Wave: Endemic
by Mnesia
Summary: "Liquid starlight" is a substance which projects a particular portion of the mind to concrete reality by any means necessary. If the conditions are met, mass transformation could be the result. Change is coming, slowly but surely. TF epic. One tale ends here, but so begins another, where a changed mankind must unite and face the world's most unusual threat.
1. Case 1: Vince Tragedy

**CASE 1: VINCE MAIRE - Tragedy**

**_Disclaimer:_**_ I don't claim possession over characters originating from the franchises of Chun Soft, Game Freak, Nintendo, and The Pokémon Company._**_ They belong to their rightful owners._**

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><p>I was waiting for something that, whatever its outcome may have been, would most certainly be my fault. I was an idiot. The news told us to stay inside, but honestly, what the hell could that have done? The thing crashed into our ranch. I'm sure Drew would have discovered it the next morning and done something... no... No, no, I was thinking to much. What happened, happened. Right now, all I had to distract myself from keeping a constant train of thought was the frequent sounds of the old man across from me coughing up something of a storm. Otherwise, it was pretty dreary in the infirmary. What was obvious was my mother's paranoia. She was sitting beside me, a look of sheer disbelief in her eyes. She was frozen. At least until the rather large-I assumed it was for those in wheelchairs-doors to the patients' rooms swung open, a man, dressed in the typical doctor's garb of a white coat and other devices, entering the room with a clipboard under an arm. My mother stood up, now facing this man. This was the doctor who took my little brother into the back rooms.<p>

"Ms. Maire." He spoke my mother's last name. "I think you need to come and see this for yourself. I am not sure what else to say... Please, come this way." With that predictable comment, he faced away from the lobby, my mother following soon after him. One hand was over her mouth. The other had tapped me on the shoulder. I assumed that meant I was to stay close behind. And I was about to see my little brother again... Had he just slipped into a coma on contact with the thing? I mean, that's what it looked like. It made no sense, but I guess we're lucky the rock didn't hit him on the head. That would have been fatal, undoubtedly. Even still, I'm worried... Thoughts raced through my head like a swarm of jets. The sooner we got through these lifeless, white corridors, the sooner I'd calm down. Though, I might have just lied to myself there.

The doctor held a door open for the two of us. I made sure to thank him, whilst my mom's hand was still over her mouth. Her focus froze upon that cliché hospital sight. A heart rate monitor was beeping. There were about half a dozen mechanisms in the room that I had little intention of understanding at the moment. I stopped at one side of the hospital bed, my mother the opposite. The doctor loomed over me from behind. All three of us were speechless, examining my unconscious little brother... The doctor spoke before too long.

"Above the bed here is a screen showing his brainwave activity." The doctor kindly pointed out. I had no idea what that device was. I didn't even know that existed in these rooms, but I supposed technology was still advancing. "We have had this machine examined thoroughly. It is operating perfectly. As you can see, there are two lines." He paused, pointing out the two distinct lines zigzagging chaotically on the screen. "That is impossible. The existence of a second set of brainwaves... suggests he has a second brain." He kept speaking, but everything became a blur after the concept of a second brain. I was glancing back and forth between the brainwaves and my brother. A second brain? How? Where?

"Based on the activity of his second brain, if it is there," The doctor paused once more, pointing at the more disarrayed line on the screen. "It is a bedlam of electrical waves that do not belong in his body. Yet, he is surviving. I have never seen, nor have I heard, this in my career or life."

I could tell my mother was incredulous. She was not easy to fool. And the idea of a second brain was ludicrous. She shook her head, giving the doctor a sort of "are you insane?" look.

"You're honestly suggesting he is growing another brain...?"

"It is either that or his brain is producing two entirely separate -worlds- of waves. As you can see, the waves are in no way the same. Either way, the amount of electrical waves inside your son's body have locked him into a coma. The functions of his organs are starting to fail. We're going to require your decision. Do you want us to put Drew on life support?"

"What else can we do?" Mother answered rhetorically, giving it no thought. She wanted dearly to keep her son, my brother, alive. I wanted it too, but... Was this torture for him? What if he was stuck in some sort of nightmare? What if he was begging to just escape...? ...These thoughts were related to slumber, thus, I yawned. It was either three or four in the morning. And no. I had not slept yet. And, as a sixteen-year-old teenager, I'm not the most responsible sleeper in any case. Though, I felt bad. I didn't want to look like I was bored. I wasn't...

...

I tell you, that wasn't an easy night. I had absolutely zero hours, zero minutes, and maybe five seconds of sleep. I stayed at the hospital. I remained in that room watching my little brother, holding his hand as he was hooked up to all sorts of machines. I watched over him without budging, with some fantasy running through my head, mocking me with the falsehood of his awakening. Upon using the bathroom about three times that night, or morning, really, (and mostly out of anxiety) I had to splash my face with the freezing water just to keep my eyes open. More than halfway. Each time I returned to that room, I was so expecting Drew to be sitting up, a dumb look plastered on his face. He'd see me walk in and holler my name before asking me where he was and what was going on. Maybe it's silly to someone else, but the thought of it was beautiful. And that made it worse. I stop paying attention to the time after I made out a bit of blue in the sky. I knew it was about 6:00AM or something. I wasn't sure when the sun started rising, but I had a vague feeling it was around that time. It didn't matter. The only thing I wanted to rise was my brother. And I don't mean it in the "soul" perspective.

Fingers pressing into my black-circled eyes, I sighed. What made this worse was that, as soon as I got home, I would have had to help Dad with the farm. Us farm boys were supposed to wake up early and all, but I was a bit of a rebel. I slept in later than you could have imagined on weekends, which made up for my huge loss of sleep on the weekdays. It was a busy schedule. I was unmistakably under pressure every moment, save the weekends. No, strike that. I had projects for school. I had one coming up. It was due this Monday, and it was already Friday. Well, it was the worst Friday of my life. I was nowhere on that English project, and my brother was probably going to be killed, and... Sometimes I wonder how I hadn't been driven insane a while ago. I imagined cross-country took care of that. Running always calmed me down. I enjoyed running around the acres of our farmland with our welsh corgi Zig-Zag. Drew always tried to keep up with me. He'd run out of stamina pretty fast, let me tell you... But that's because he wasn't trained like I was. I had been trained to maintain myself while running. But that didn't apply for everything in life. And it really was all breaking down here...

I'm so sorry, little brother...

I'm hoping you're having a sweet dream... Of us laying in the hammocks near one another and watching the stars roll on in the black, velvet sky.

Or the clouds, in the blue beyond.

Or maybe you were too distracted with that silly little game you played on that handheld system of yours... It was the one with the creatures you had to train, fighting with them against other trainers and ultimately reaching the championship or something. I didn't get it, but I guessed it was really simple. Recently, a new one came out. Drew was all over that... It might have been stupid to be thinking of childish games at this time, but really, it put a grin on my face. I think I'd play that game too if I had the time. I was always up to my damn neck in work...

So, let me elaborate. I hope you're having a sweet dream where you can catch all of those little monsters and fight your way to the top...

...

Sure enough, having been driven home by Mom, I was asked to do one little task around the farm, which evolved into two tasks, and then so on. I honestly didn't care that I was tired. I was too distracted with so much mental torture that keeping me away from my own thoughts was a pretty respectable stratagem...

The tasks involved the usual Friday routine: picking up the horse shit and making sure all of the animals had food and water. Obviously, a lot of them didn't, as it was the end of the week. Thus, I had to refill everything. They had their fuel. I, however, was running on, I don't know, negative fuel? I felt so universally drained that I just wanted to collapse in bed and cry. Little did I realize that I was crying at that moment. The tears occurred, as if they had a mind of their own. That concept brought me back to the idea of two brains, and, from there, it was probably pretty easy to imagine where it went. If you understood the basics of feedback-like from an amp-inside someone's head, then you knew. My emotions were building, and I had to stop. I couldn't be distracted any further...

I ignored my father, dashing into our fairly large two-story house and heading for the second floor. I averted my attention from my brother's room, slammed my door behind me, and fell to my knees in front of my bed, my face planted firmly into the messy, unmade covers. Those were my plans for the weekend...

And little did I expect anyone to come in and comfort me. My mother refused to speak to me. Father barely looked me in the eyes... And something I forgot to mention was the rock. I saw the rock. No one touched it. Not even the animals, thankfully... That goddamn meteorite was still there.

The meteorite that ruined my little brother was still here...


	2. Case 1: Vince Knowledge

__**CASE 1: VINCE MAIRE - Knowledge**

**_Disclaimer:_**_ I don't claim possession over characters originating from the franchises of Chun Soft, Game Freak, Nintendo, and The Pokémon Company._**_ They belong to their rightful owners._**

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><p>I was never a straight A student, and probably never will be. I made some mistakes in my life. I was wrong about a lot of things. One of those things happened to be about my mother. She was scarred, but she was not bitter enough to shun me in my sorrow. We shared the same magnitude of depression, and I hope my father did as well. He was not grieving. That would not have been like him. He was the casual older man who thought those emotions were better off kept inside. I knew he was wrong. Mom knew he was wrong. Even he probably knew he was wrong. But somehow, he managed. This was different though, and it would take time for it to release itself from his jail of emotions. Dad wasn't the most agreeable man, nor was he the most friendly. He had the concrete mind of a workaholic. He was also that stereotypical type that seemed to hate on everything that I or my brother enjoyed. Put simply, he didn't care for this age of youth and wanted us to grow into well-educated bushiness men. For some reason, I never foresaw myself working in some cubicle. In honesty, I was surprised that's what he encouraged. I always thought that the farm would have remained a family tradition. It was actually quite difficult to understand what Dad wanted, pertaining of course to long-term ideals.<p>

As I said before trailing into my father, Mom comforted me. Upon seeing me broken down and sobbing into my arms, she sat herself on my bed, a hand massaging at my shoulder. I barely heard her enter the room over my wailing, and I was hardly paying enough attention to be embarrassed. I was tired. I was sad. I was starving, now that I thought about it. I looked up to her, vision obstructed with tears.

"It's my fault..." That was all I said. It was something that has been on my mind since the start of this. And it was entirely legitimate. It was true. "Right now, I should be on that hospital bed." I turned my head, eyes now fixed on the window. The blinds were open, dust visible in the rays of light which were shining through...

"Sh-sh-sh..." My mother moved her hand, now stroking my back. "It's really not. No one could have guessed this... I think that doctor was clueless." She paused, giving me enough time to evaluate her thoughts. I knew the doctor was clueless. Anyone would have been at the idea of a second body-controlling organ. "We don't know what caused it. It's not your fault." To me, that just sounded like I was innocent until proven guilty. "Listen, I know you haven't had much sleep. It's Friday. Lay down in bed and take it easy. I'll bring you dinner if you're still awake by then." She gave me an easygoing smile that would have otherwise relaxed me if I had nothing due in English class on Monday. I obliged. She left the TV remote on my bedpost, then kissed me briefly on the forehead.

At that second, I finally realized my head ached beyond reasoning. Especially a select couple of spots in my forehead, which my mom had kissed in the center of. Shrugging that off as a simple headache from a lack of sleep, I set myself down in a recumbent position, pushing the blankets to one end of the bed with both feet... It was silent. I lay, head back and attention parsed between my wooden ceiling fan and the fake glow-in-the-dark stars pasted up there that never got removed. I forgot what age I was when my dad helped me put them up. All I can tell you was that I've lived here all my life. Drew did too, obviously. Although I meant that in a different way.

I hated to even consider this, but I thought to myself that my little brother was finished living here...

It only took a few minutes for me to fall into a deep slumber that was not interrupted until the next day. Saturday. The weekend was solemn. I remained silent for these two days. I did what I could on the English project, though pushed it aside within only a couple hours of starting. In honesty, I got called to work on the farm. I was instructed to help herd the animals away from "Ground Zero"-the site of the meteorite-and into a safer area. We had plenty of land for the horses and cattle to graze or do whatever. They had just so happened to be in that particular danger zone. Seeing what that rock did to my brother, getting the animals to a safe distance was a priority.

What the rock did to my brother exactly was incomprehensible. It didn't strike him. He did what any boy his age, hell, even mine, would have done in that scenario. A simple poke led him to the state he was in now. And that failed to make any sense to me. If he received some sort of electrical shock from the meteorite, I was pretty sure he would have been awake by now.

Although...

I developed a theory during dinner on that Saturday night. This was assuming the doctor was right about the development of a second brain, which I assumed was already a regularity in animals like humans (left hemisphere and right hemisphere, I think). Yes, if the doctor was right about the second brain hypothesis, it would explain why Drew has slipped into a coma. His body doesn't know what to do with two brains. It sounded like I was just stating the obvious in thought. That wasn't my theory. My theory revolved around why my head had been killing me since Friday. As I mentioned, it was specifically around the frontal lobe of my brain. Or my skull. Something. Drew made physical contact with the rock. He passed out, possibly beginning the dual-brain development on the spot. I was near the rock. Perhaps I, too, was undergoing this transformation at a pace which my body was capable of keeping up with. My beliefs became complicated beyond this theory. I delved into it like a fascinated scientist or book nerd or something of the sort. I was, in no way, a book nerd. I, although I regretted it, used to pick on book nerds in middle school...

I left the dinner table early that evening to pursue this train of thought without distraction. I found myself motivated to think. I assumed it was because my brother's life was on the line. I restarted my English project, using this very situation as a topic. I wish I had done it in the absence of the mind-splitting headache, but I was unfazed by this. My spontaneous motivation to stimulate my thinking was nigh invulnerable. I researched cases of meteors striking Earth. I researched the electrical activities of brains and how they can be recorded with EEGs. (Known as electroencephalographs, used to monitor countless neurons in the gray matter.) My research left me with a very interesting conclusion, or choice, perhaps. Either the rock was infested with an extraterrestrial bacteria which infiltrated my brother's body and congregated into his brain to form a mass of tissue similar to a brain, OR my brother's brainwaves had resonated with the magnetic properties of the rock's foreign properties in such a way that it goes beyond the understanding of modern science. Our English teacher's commendable generosity in declaring this a very liberal assignment was a positive aspect to all of this. I could've focused on something such as a governmental issue, possibly abortion. The dilemma was that this topic had to be relatively known. A solution to that might have been on the way to our very house. Investigators in the issue of this meteorite have led the Autumnridge News our way. I was positive my school would have opted to catch on. I was qualified to be an interviewee, as I was present at the scene as it happened.

Hopefully I would have been in the mood to speak of such a freak occurrence. I predicted that I had to be well rested for it. That was the moment I turned to see exactly what time it was. It happened to be three in the morning. I faced the many papers which crowded my desk, all of them fully typed and double spaced, as the teacher instructed. I was finished with the project. Though I yearned for more knowledge, I figured sleeping was necessary. I thought my schedule would have been damaged by that all-nighter at the hospital. Luckily, it wasn't. Upon organizing these papers into a more fitting mass, I yawned, switching off my monitor and CPU. The project was done, and I felt content about that. It had also kept me from mindlessly grieving over the unestablished loss of my brother. I gained optimism. My researched was mainly farfetched and illogical, thus there was no way my brother would be killed by this phenomenon. He was already on the road to recovery. Something told me that. Something I couldn't quite explain. I could tell you it was a part of my headache, however.

It told me that my little brother was just "there". He was present. His presence was clear. Inside me. Beyond me. He was everywhere. It felt like he was commanding me to do something for him... I would have happily done whatever it was he wanted. And this was the very idea which gave me hope. He'd make it through...

I shut the lights off, positioning myself comfortably under the blankets. I felt warmly wrapped in a kind of cotton bliss. It was a little unusual for me to feel this comfortable, but perhaps it was because it was significantly later than my preferred hours of settling in bed. I was tired. It was that simple... What wasn't simple was this: I regretted not researching about time travel. Quite random.

I also possessed a very bizarre feeling aside all of this. My back ached. It wasn't my spine, rather two spots in my back. It felt as though I needed to scratch the _inside_of my back muscles...

...

Sunday was shockingly eventful, though I was still fairly silent. My predictions about the Autumnridge News were correct. Upon my awakening and observing out my bedroom window, a large white van and a few other unrecognizable cars were stationed in a small dirt field that was essentially a parking lot. Among these vehicles were a couple police cars. I was wondering just far this investigation would have been taken before any results were to have come in. How would the results have even existed? This was nearing science fiction. How could an investigation have _worked_for this? I supposed it was designed to better their knowledge of extraterrestrial rocks. It was both astronomy and geology. The idea was neat. Interested, I left my room and made for the bathroom at the end of the upstairs hallway. My brother's room was adjacent to mine, which was at the far end of the hallway, thus making it the most remote room in the house. I didn't mind. I was a cross-country runner, after all. Emptying a full bladder, I gazed at myself in the mirror. My jaw dropped ever so slowly at this sight... My irises had changed. They were no longer their usual dark hazel. My eyes were a deep blue, encircled slightly in black, plain and simple. Quickly, I turned away, swallowing spit and placing a hand on the sink counter, the other pressed against my aching head.

"Did I see that right?" I asked myself, maintaining my calm and staring into the mirror once again. Indeed, I did see it correctly. My eyes had changed color. Had they done this overnight? Had I not noticed it yesterday? "Holy shit, how do I..." I paused mid-sentence, unsure where that thought was headed. A second irregularity resided near my eyes. My face possessed a light greenish tint. It was subtle, but it was certainly green. And it was _odd_. It might have given one the impression that I was ill. Refusing to hesitate, I stripped down, tossing my clothes aside and standing completely exposed to the air. My body, in fact, was this same green tint. My torso and below, excluding my arms, were a bit darker green. That was disturbing.. There were even more problems with my face as well. Two very small bumps resided on my forehead, as if I were growing tiny horns. They were hardly noticeable visually, however running my finger across those spots proved that bumps were there. They were not blemishes. It felt as though someone had planted small rocks into my skull.

"Rocks..." I spoke aloud, though quietly. This returned my focus to the meteorite. Were small meteorites growing inside of me? Was it happening to Drew? It was actually quite terrifying. I could have been seeded with some alien's baby. I could _turn into_some alien's baby. That thought was strangely comforting. Though both disgusting and frightening...

I continued to scan my body. Specifically, I was not very tall. I measured at about 5'5", weighing 120 pounds. I was small for my age, but that was because of the exercise, as well as my genes. I struck people as just another white athlete boy most of the time. My hair was a reddish brown, usually parted in the front. It grew out fairly fast, as it was approaching my shoulders once more. I honestly didn't mind long hair, but my father had problems with it. To avoid conflict, I had it cut regularly. Hopefully it didn't turn green or somethin' anytime soon. I was still skeptical. Maybe I was seeing things... then again, the chances of an energized meteorite crashing into our farmland were about one in an obnoxious number. That happened.

After that awkward inspection of myself, I showered, shaved, and ultimately felt much better with the regard to hygiene, but I was still very slightly green. I knew I was in denial about this. I couldn't wash off the color of my skin if nothing happened to instigate that in the first place... I tried not to concern myself with that.

As I finished my duties around the house, it was time to explore the intentions of the news. With dark enough sunglasses over my eyes, I joined my mother and father outside...

...

I was interviewed that day. About forty feet in front of a square zone sealed off with yellow caution tape was where they interviewed my mother, father, and I. You probably could have concluded what was sealed off. The meteorite, of course. Another of my predictions were correct. I was fortunate enough to be briefly interviewed during the live broadcast...

"My brother and I were assuming this would be an unusual thing; something you don't really get to experience in life that often. Well, yeah, I was right. I kinda wish I wasn't. For all I know, some space bug could be crawling around in my brother's brain right now. I know it's weird, but sometimes truth is stranger than fiction. Do I think that's the case? I don't. But based on what doctors have told us, what else could it be?" That was where the news shifted to the next issue.

...

The rest of my day was dull. I decided to touch up on my project, as well as do some recreational research. I would normally have never done this in my spare time. Right now, I'd be exercising or working around the farm. Or both. Given the conditions, it was unlikely I'd get to either today. Despite my head still throbbing in significant pain and the knowledge that I was undeniably green in hue, I kept reading through documents online as though they were a source of entertainment. I couldn't stop. It was hypnotizing. Especially an article related to the experiment of time travel; something I had pondered over last night. That caught my attention more than anything else. It persuaded me to believe that certain time travel was possible. The requirements were staggering though. It seemed like you had to be willing enough to get into some enormously sophisticated space ship which could travel to the center of the Milky Way and locate a black hole. You'd then orbit that black hole in this high-tech spaceship, and time would go slower do to the unparalleled mass of the spatial phenomenon. And that was time travel to the future. Time travel to the past was apparently impossible.

Was it...?

What if it was? Would history have already been altered. Would the ones who traveled to the past return simply to a different dimension where the element they aimed to manipulate was just not there anymore?

Pushing myself away from my desk, I spun to the side, eyes watching the sinking sun outside. I stared into the sky, not directly looking at the sun of course. But I was able to decipher its movement into the horizon. It was a beautiful sight. The sun hovering over the darkened trees, pink and golden clouds granting the scenery a softness... Truly an amazing sunset. Strangely enough, I became distracted with the trees. I couldn't explain to you why I felt so entranced by them. I was never particularly a naturalist, but I did appreciate nature. I ran all the time through parkway paths and hillsides and the like. It was enthralling to say the least.

"What in the diddlies are you doing...?" My mother asked, looking at me as though I were some sort of carny. I hardly noticed she had been standing in my doorway for... however long... Turning to her, I grinned, shrugging and honestly not bothering with a verbal answer. "...Well, in any case, you've been up here for a while. The news cars are gone. I've got dinner waiting for you downstairs. Hurry on down before it gets cold." Hasty as usual, she left before I could ask her what it was. I guess I'd have to find out for myself. I stood up from my desk chair, glancing at the window for a few more seconds with an irked, yet insightful, expression. It was sort of like an irritated poker face, really. I'm not too sure if I can use "poker face" to describe an expression. 'Point was, I didn't like to be interrupted...

Dinner was roasted pork, carrots, and rice. That was ironic. I was told carrots are nutritious for your eyes. I was forced to wonder if they restored your eye color. That struck me swiftly as soon as I sat down. My eyes were blue! Unfortunately, my father beat me to that realization.

"...Boy, 'the heck is up with your eyes?" He squinted at me, not particularly in the same fashion I had done to sunset, but in a way which made me nervous enough to face the other direction. "What'd you do?"

"His eyes? What's wrong with his eyes?" My mother inquired, setting down at the table herself and pulling her chair closer. "Vincent?"

"Boy's eyes weren't blue right?" Father spoke again. He tended to talk in a raspy, smoker's voice. Which suggested he, in fact, smoked. He did, and it was a poor habit. Getting him to stop these habits was quite impossible, as he was stubborn about it, and pretty sensitive. At times, his voice was a bit hard to understand, which made working with him frustrating.

"What? His eyes are blue...?" Mom doubted him. At the same time, she called my name. "Vincent, look at me." I did so, though she still grasped my chin gently with three fingers, lifting my head up slightly. My eyes were locked on hers, which was a good thing for only one of us. "Oh, you're not kidding at all. What happened to you? Did you take something...?"

"I don't have anything to take..." I replied, unsure how to answer the coming questions in any way but to be honest. "I woke up today, went to the restroom, looked in the mirror. Blue eyes. Looks like I have dark circles, too. Kinda weird, but I don't feel any different." Well, that was a lie. I felt immensely different. My head still pounded. My face was green, though Mom didn't seem to notice in the lighting. I was doing things that were unlike me. At this point, I probably would have been considered a hypocrite. Or nutcase.

"Might wanna see some'un for that. I don't want you goin' 'round with friggin' color-changing eyes, boy." Dad scowled. I retorted at his comment in my head. Who specialized in unnatural eye color shift? My father was the sort of many who detested the change in physical appearance these days, such as piercings and hair dyeing. He said that all of that was designed for girls. And he was very one-sided about it. It was annoying, but I didn't plan to get piercings anyway.

"Well." Mom began, letting go of my chin. I started eating as she spoke. "We'll see an eye doctor this coming week."

_Ophthalmologist, Mom._ I thought to myself, keeping my attention averted. _The term is ophthalmologist._I was surprised I knew what the official title was. Normally, I'd settle at "eye doctor".

The rest of the dinner table conversation was dedicated to the Autumnridge News. If you hadn't guessed by now, I lived in the rural county of Autumnridge. It was a quiet place, not to mention pretty free of the criminal element. Some people might have called it the middle of nowhere. I resented that. There were plenty places around here to prove quite the opposite. I was planning on staying local when I moved out of the house. Being a cross-country runner, I knew this place so well that I could navigate for miles. Blindfolded. (That'd be a solution to my newly-colored eyes.)

With dinner finished and my hunger tamed, I returned to my research. Gazing out the window was not as exciting at night. I figured it was because it was night when that meteorite fell. And now I'm going to associate that with my brother's slip into a coma.

...

That weekend, Friday included, was a turning point. It was the beginning of the end. I was so wonderfully oblivious to that...

What was it the end of? Something I'm familiar with.

My eyes changed color. My skull felt like it was going to burst. My body appeared ill in its entirety. Honestly, that was just the beginning of a spiraling transformation no scientist could ever have hoped to describe.

My life was about to be changed forever... Now I know it was impossible to live forever.

But this transformation would be forever.


	3. Case 1: Vince Change

**CASE 1: VINCE MAIRE - The Change**

_**Note: **Ever take the time to read through your stuff, then later find that there are still errors? AFTER you've uploaded it to the public? Kinda sucks. Anyway, **MERRY CHRISTMAS GUYS!** I hope you all have a wonderful new year! __I may be updating on Liquid Starlight, so stay tuned! (Is "tuned" the right word here? Stay focused, I guess? ._. ) Anyway, another quick note: FUN TIME~!  
><em>

**_Disclaimer:_**_ I don't claim possession over characters originating from the franchises of Chun Soft, Game Freak, Nintendo, and The Pokémon Company._**_ They belong to their rightful owners._**

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><p>Monday came too soon.<p>

However, I was prepared. My focus on my required schoolwork bestowed upon me a healthy dose of confidence. I still had a headache. I wasn't so sure how long it would have persisted before fading away... For whatever reason, I was capable of waking up prior to my alarm going off. That had happened rarely, usually whenever I was sick to the point of vomiting during the night.

Despite that, I took advantage of this, knowing that it wouldn't take long until my father needed me with the farm. I grasped the edge of my blanket, and found myself staring at my arms. They seemed thicker; chubbier, in a sense. My forearms did, at least. It was hardly noticeable. I, rather, felt the difference over seeing it. I wasn't so sure what this was. 'Probably my eyes playing early morning tricks on me. Speaking of which, upon handling my morning bathroom affairs, I noticed those very eyes happened to be an even deeper blue, with an even more definite black circle around each.

"What the hell, am I a werewolf...?" I spoke again to myself. "None of this is making sense." I was whispering now, stroking my face with a cold hand. I ran my hand through my hair, noticing a very blatant bump on the back of my head. Thankfully, it was concealed by my hair, but it was surely there. It was stranger than fiction. I almost felt off balance because of it. And still, my head throbbed like there was no tomorrow. Luckily, there was. I suppose. Continuing with my examination, I lifted my chin, stroking it slowly and noticing another odd factor in all of this. I was not growing facial hair. I never grew it particularly fast, but I should have at least felt somewhat stubby by now. My face was alarmingly smooth. It felt like my whole body was smooth. Personally, I kept myself well-shaven because of my passion for both biking and running. It was a lot less of a hassle when you got injured...

I was not injured now, but there no doubt in my pained head that something was critically wrong with me. It was more evident now than ever before. Something inside my mind was in dire anguish. Something was screaming within me, demanding that I adjusted to its properties. I was clueless as to how I knew this. It was my intuition.

I bolted for the door, quickly scramming from the bathroom and heading downstairs. I froze in place about midway through the stairway. How in God's name would Mom or, namely, Dad would have believed what I was about to tell either of them? I was undergoing some sort of unnatural conversion. I did not know the answer to my awareness of this. And it was extremely likely my parents lacked the knowledge of this type of conundrum... I changed my mind, returning to my room and burying myself back into my bed. I had in mind a plan to stay home... I awaited my mother or father to enter my room. It was awfully unlikely that I'd be able to skip out on school. My parents were strict regarding my attendance. At this point in the year, I haven't missed much school, considering Halloween was right around the corner. That said, school had still only just begun. My idea had a slim chance.

Although, the project I had striven to complete... Before I decided on a new plan, my mother noticed me at the entrance to my room.

"Oh, Vincent, you left your door open?" She asked, walking in casually and sitting on my bed.

"I had to go to the restroom..." I told her, shifting my focus away from her.

"...Are you okay? You hardly spoke all weekend."

"I'm not feeling good, really..." Right then, I was telling the truth. My body was starting to ache. My head had already been torturing me for days. That strange sensation in my back refused to relent.

"You do look pretty green. You must have worried yourself sick." She placed the palm of her warm hand on my forehead, feeling for any signs of a fever. I gazed at my mother as soon as she started feeling across my forehead. I knew what she had discovered just then. "Vincent, what are these bumps from?"

"Uhm..." I hesitated, shrugging in my position. "I don't know, bug bites?"

"Hm, alright." She returned her hand to her lap, considering the bumps no more. My mother was not easy to fool, though the bumps on my forehead were of little concern at this point. "If you're not feeling well, I think you might be better off taking a day off. You didn't feel warm, but I can see your color's off."

"Thanks... Did we get any word on Drew?"

"They have him on life support. The doctor said that he and his team have been seeing some very strange readings on that brainwave thingy..." Mom stopped speaking, frowning and swinging one leg over another. I could tell by this expression that grim news was about to leave her lips. "I got some information from the doctor this morning actually. He told me that Drew was not the only one who fell into a coma in Autumnridge." That got me to sit up. There was a second victim? If so, then the meteorite was completely negligible. Unless...

"What happened?" I asked, a desperate plead for an answer obvious in that tired tone.

"That little meteor outside has something to do with it, we know. During the night of the meteor shower, another fell close by."

_A second meteorite?_ I thought, jaw slowly dropping. When I realized this, I bit my lip, not prepared to ask who the second victim was. If it was in this area, then it might have been someone I knew. The odds of this were unrealistically astronomical. I only wished to await more from my mother, rather than get into the details of how fictional the odds were of this happening.

"Do you know a boy named Cruce Maximilius?" When my mother asked this, my heart sank once more... I nodded in response.

"...I do, yeah." I replied, my head hanging low. Cruce was a student at Metedia High, which was the school I attended. He was a sophomore also, and in a lot of my classes. Given this scenario, it was worse that I knew the guy since middle school. Even worse than that, I liked to consider him a school-exclusive friend. His group of buddies mingled with my friends, which was really only my friend Zatch, his older brother Zack, and another friend of ours called Danithan. Cruce's group was far stronger in numbers, thus it would probably be a harder truth to accept for them.

Especially his cousin...

"Okay." I shook my head quickly, rubbing my strange eyes and yawning shortly afterward. "I'm going to school."

"Are you sure you're feeling up for it?" Mom looked incredulous, as she blinked a couple times at my show of motivation.

"I am. I knew Cruce. And I know his cousin is devastated. He needs someone to relate to."

"Oh, that's very sweet of you. Well then, I won't get in your way. In fact, I'm proud of you for doing this... You do not look well at all, Vincent."

I shrugged again, my mother hugging me close with one arm and planting a brief kiss on my forehead. She was showing more affection than usual, and I knew exactly why. Drew was no longer here. I was the only son of hers now. If anything were to happen to me, I imagined it was a big, dissatisfying "game over" for the next generation here. Whatever was happening to may have very well put me in mortal danger. I never had the terrifying premonition of death at the end of whatever it was that was ailing me, but it was always a sobering possibility. There was now a chance that another was going through this unnatural phase. It made me able to push the pain aside. Already, I had something to thank him for...

...

My father did not need my help with the early farm activities. It was a convenient start to what would have been the strangest Monday of my life, only setting the stage for many more days of odd wonder to come. With my backpack secured over my shoulders and the necessities within it, I started for my school. It was easily within walking distance, especially given the time I woke up at. It was estimated at about a mile from my house, and I knew a great number of shortcuts. During cross-country runs, the coach agreed to let me use a system of pathways for a track. I ran some which led back home and to Zatch's place. Those were a bit longer than my average run, but they were a nice challenge.

The path I took was a nice woodland nature reserve. It was rare to see anyone here this early. Occasionally there might have been someone walking his or her dog, but that was about it during the early morning. I had to admit that this place was one of the most... "magical" of Autumnridge. I was not the only one who thought so. During moonlit nights, marriage proposals were made by the riverbank here. Romantic beginnings were made here. There had even been reported sights of paranormal activity in the thickets. It was a surreal area, and had remained that way with all sorts of legends and lore tethered to it since people first settled in this area. It was almost untouched by mankind, save the pathway and the wooden bridge across the river. Trees ranged from pine to palm and many a type in between. The wildlife was quite diverse for a populated area. Rock formations, alcoves, and small branching pathways led to countless hidden areas within the woodlands. Each of those hidden locations had both disturbing and mystical stories tied to them. There were modern investigations which had to do with human bodies dumped into the river or elsewhere in this place. There were also landmarks carved from the ancient natives who once lived here. My favorite spot in particular was a clearing with a large, flat slab of rock in the center, surrounded by a symbolic array of obsidian stone. Some people were horrified of this particular spot. I, however, felt fascinated and drawn to it, now more than ever. The forest around me was alive...

I stopped in my tracks, taking a deep breath. Suddenly, I choked. Not on my saliva. Not on the air. All breathing came to a halt. Quickly, I struck my upper chest with my palm, genuinely afraid for my life. Tears squeezed themselves out of my tightly shut eyes. Indeed, my eyes were shut, yet I saw images. I saw three motionless, very distinguishable pictures. They lasted for less than two seconds, each followed by a second of blackness. These images were of various spots within the obsidian Circle location; my favorite area here.

I saw the obsidian rocks in a perfect circle around the central stone slab.

I saw the symbolic markings on that slab, their meanings yet to be deciphered.

I saw Drew. He stood before the symbolic slab. He was expressionless.

These sights warped away into the confines of my morphing mind. I inhaled, then exhaled, slowly releasing my clutched hand from my chest... I doubled over, gritting my teeth and clasping my head with both hands. From there, the pain was more excruciating than, say, passing a kidney stone. In your brain. My head felt as though it were in a state of perpetual explosion; that being the most violent moment of the action. It was unmistakably pressure, though it felt as though I were about to sprout a tree from my head. Take the worst migraine you have ever had and multiply it by three. Hundred. Perhaps I was exaggerating at that point, but I was almost completely unaware of my actions. Through the pulsing, blurring vision, my instincts were driving me to the spot from my frenzied head; the Circle. My perception of time was in absolute disarray.

To me, _time was in turmoil._

I arrived at the Circle by means unknown. I had no idea which route I had taken. Something had deprived me of self control. It was inside of me; my mind... There was a distorted voice whimpering inside of my head. It was Drew's... The Circle was afire with life from the trees which surrounded it. A gentle red radiance led a humble existence on the symbolic slab... Or the place of said slab. It was no more. The rock had been obliterated by a meteorite: the source of the glow. It was the same kind of meteorite from home. The same kind which destroyed the brain of my little brother. The same kind which numbered Cruce's days. IT was doing THIS to me. IT WAS DESTROYING ME.

It was the catalyst to complete this mutant that I have become. My physical appearance was changing here and now. It was the source of my immediate pain.

I dropped to my knees, which appeared to be caving in on themselves very slowly. My legs were rising, or falling. I couldn't tell. It seemed they were shrinking. My torso was doing the same. My hands, barely visible past the enormity that was now my T-shirt, were losing their details. My fingers looked as though they retracted back into my hands, leaving only three points, which continued to shrink and shift into a more grassy green. I wasn't too sure of anything at that moment, but it felt like my feet were undergoing the same thing! My socks, shoes, jeans, everything felt too large! I lifted my head, breathing uncontrollably. My eyes felt like they were large enough to see in all directions. That being established, I saw two green strands suspended from my forehead. Both of these strands were tipped a light blue. My upper back and the back of my head were in unexplainable misery. My head felt heavier, huge even. I felt off balance, the back of my head weighing far more than the front. Loose "items" felt as though they were hanging from my back. There were two of these items. They were flimsy, although they remained attached to my back...

...It was plain blackness then...

...

_I couldn't remember..._

_Where I was..._

_Who I was... No... I was Vince. I -am- Vince. I remembered it then. My mind had just dilapidated before reconstructing itself. I honestly don't understand how I knew that, but... That's what I could tell you._

_But it was weird that I couldn't remember where I was. Was I in bed under my covers? I was warm... I felt so strange. It was like I had been sedated, then had my body stretched out four times its length before it snapped back into place. Indeed, that was painful... Was I buried? It seemed like I was laying on a thin material over a dirt ground. And something bulky was atop me. I took a few minutes to feel around the ground for anything. In the process of doing so, it felt like my hands were encased in a very tight glove. I couldn't move my fingers. It was like I didn't even have any, if it weren't for three stub-like ends of my hands. I don't think I had any toes either. Did I suffer from frostbite? I didn't know how that worked, and it did not get cold enough around here in the fall to freeze someone... Fall... Autumn... Autumnridge._

_I was in Autumnridge... I was walking somewhere on a dull day. I think it was Monday. It was! The weekend was over and... The weekend... That difficult weekend where Drew was hurt. Was he hurt? I hoped he wasn't. There was a meteorite, and... There was one here? Wait, but where exactly was "here"? Monday... Monday meant school. Was I walking to school...? ...I was...! I took that path, and... It was all a blur... Was I dead? I remembered being mentally... I don't know, mutilated. Was I mutilated? Did I get killed and sliced up? It would have explained why I felt so small, but it wouldn't have explained how I was still alive... But no one really knew what it was like to be dead... Did they? ...The dead... Spirits... I was on that trail. No, I wasn't dead! I was..._

I quickly pushed myself up with all four limbs, knowing that they were still there, despite being clearly deformed. It felt like I had additional limbs on my back, but they were not like arms or legs. They were light and very easy to move; almost difficult _not_to. I removed myself from what looked like a loose T-shirt, my legs over a pair of jeans. Having pulled myself up from these clothes and the backpack upon them, I sat with the blankest stare imaginable, my stubby hands in my lap...

"How did-" I coughed, interrupted myself. It was much harder to speak now for some reason. That brought me back to that episode of choking. I wish it hadn't... My voice was far higher than usual. If I spoke with a lisp, I'd be mistaken for a tween girl. As I brought my hand up to my mouth, I examined it. My arms were chubby, and my fingers, as I expected, were like little three-prong stubs. At the same time, I noticed my feet. They were essentially green, ovular paws, minus the claws. And those "extra limbs" turned out to be wings. Insect wings. I glanced over my new, tiny shoulders to see them protruding from my back. The strangest feeling about them was the ability to control them. They were far more sensitive and, I suppose, gossamer than anything else on my, or _this_, body, even my eyelids. One movement was automatically a few rapid flutters faster than my large blue eyes could have followed. Speaking of which, I could place my hand-tiny stub thing, that is-over my flat face and still be capable of seeing it, even though I _felt_my eyes more on the sides of my head. I still saw forward very well, but trying to go cross-eyed made me quite dizzy. I didn't need that... I felt things more vividly. My sense of touch possessed an amazing acuity. Lowering my head, I felt with both hands for the source of this: two antennae... The clothes before me were once mine, but I was far too small to fit into them now. My head was decently large still, but the rest of my body was petite. I was naked, but I noticed a distinct lack of any genitals. Anywhere.

Having explored this body, I again understood that I was the one controlling it. I was the one within it. I was this body... And this mind.

"Drew...?" I forced myself to speak, still finding that to be awkwardly difficult. Upon taking another breath, I attempted it once more. "Where are you, Drew?" I lifted myself to my small, green feet, leaning forward a tad to compensate for the large curved spike on my head that was essentially making me top heavy. I gathered I didn't weigh much anymore, considering I had wings. But these wings were awfully feeble in appearance. I didn't put much hope into flying. I stepped around my things lying about and examined the fragmented rock slab. It had been desecrated by the meteorite... That very meteorite was aglow with a powerful luster. I did recall the color of it being an unmistakable scarlet. Now, however, it was very different. It was a hue I've never seen before. It was a color like none other. My eyes have ever gazed upon such a mysterious shine. It was not red. Not blue. Not green. Not yellow. It was nowhere in between. It was a new color to my sight...

Just then, I became conscious of the world around me...! Obviously, here I was: some freak of nature in the real world. I spun around, instantaneously losing all of the comfort which the sight of the brand new color granted me. I stared at the evidence of my human body in dread and skepticism, both small hands glued to my forehead.

"Oh God, what happened to me?" I cried out, rather hoping no one who have heard me in my desperation. I couldn't be seen like this, but I was unsure what else there was to do. Most definitely, I couldn't go to school. I couldn't return home. I couldn't even leave this spot if I didn't want to risk being seen. I very much so preferred to stay hidden, and the trees were a marvelous method of doing just that. I wasn't any less panicked with this idea in mind. No ideas could have changed what had just happened to me, if it even happened at all. Everything felt real, but no one has felt such conversion before, so how could I have known what "real" was anymore? My brother seemed he would have been forever unconscious at the touch of an empyrean meteor. Now I had transformed into God knows what at the sight of that meteor. Was it the meteor...?

...This was happening. All of my senses were tuned to a setting brand new to me. In spite of that, they were senses, and they allowed me to experience the world around me, which was very much the same as it was prior to this episode... Now, I knew I was Vince, but even in some scenario such as this, I would have most likely worried myself sick, but something about the way I thought was different. I felt like I could make out the murky consequences of my actions. Foggy as they were, it seemed like I was still seeing into the future. I lowered my hands to my sides and took a deep breath.

_I have to try to keep from being too emotional about this. I need to move to some place even more tucked away than this so that I can at least digest what I can of this situation in some sort of peace... Can I really fly? _At the last thought, I looked over my shoulder again, observing as I fluttered my wings. I maintained that motion with easy, actually finding it to be amusing! It made me feel lighter. For the sake of the small experiment, I hopped a tad, taking to the air much more than I anticipated. It felt like I was in space, the only difference being my control over gravity. It had turned out that I was flapping my wings too fast, as I continued to ascend. I adjusted for the alacrity of my wing motion simply by relaxing ever so slightly more. It came natural to me, but it still felt like I was prone to slip up and plummet to the ground at any moment. My human fears and anxieties remained... As did some other things. For instance, flying was really only something one might have done in a giant metal contraption with wings and jet engines. It was unreal to have considered flying something one could have done naturally, yet here I was... I was more afraid that I'd suddenly spring up too high rather than fall down. There was a great deal of power behind these wings. Given their size, that was reputed. I released my focus on them, ceasing their motion and dropping myself to the ground. My low center of gravity caused the landing to feel like the impact of one foot per step of a smooth jog, maybe even a brisk walk. It was incredible. It was like I could have leaped a hundred feet into the air and have been completely fine upon landing (I would've taken flight anyway).

So, yes. I could fly.

I walked to my backpack and located the zipper. Pulling it open, I snatched a brown paper bag containing a ham sandwich, an apple, and a bag of pretzels. It was the regular lunch I made for myself in school mornings. With this bag held in both hands, I perused the rest of my stuff, curious as to what I might have needed for what may become survival... That thought process was interrupted at the sounds of barking. I stopped everything I was doing, glancing up at the direction of the oncoming barking. Panicking once again, I looked over the things of mine before realizing that I had needed one more item. I pushed my backpack off of my shirt, then, with the bag hugged close to my chest, I leaned down and moved the shirt up to my mouth with my free hand, proceeding to biting down on it and again holding the bag in both hands. Compensating for this extra weight, my wings fluttered much faster than before. I was off...

I was in the wild with very limited food and warmth. And I wasn't even human... Not anymore.

And strangely...

It hurt to part with the meteorite.

It was as though I was leaving my brother... Again...

-Celebi.


	4. Case 2: Zatch Bonding

**CASE 2: DJ ZATCH ****HUMMINGS**** - Bonding**

_**Note: **I apologize for the wait! I've been taking a break from writing. Usually, when I do that, I never come back very strong. These following chapters turned out to be a little longer than I thought they should have originally been. Since Zatch is a pretty important character of the actual storyline_, _his may turn out to be even longer than Vince's._

**_Disclaimer:_**_ I don't claim possession over characters originating from the franchises of Chun Soft, Game Freak, Nintendo, and The Pokémon Company._**_ They belong to their rightful owners._**

* * *

><p>The craziest weekend in a while, possibly in my life, just passed by. Destiny was the only fortune teller of how insane things were about to get from here: Monday. I only wished that whatever was happening around Autumnridge would be finished. It was happening too... close. Already, it affected my closest friend, and another good buddy of mine. It was madly coincidental, or maybe not! Maybe the meteorites fell so close to one another for a good reason! I had yet, along with all the other residents, to figure this one out. I didn't think that the meteorites fell in my hometown alone. Maybe they were scattered all over the planet by now... The rest of us only heard of two cases with these meteorites, those being related to my friends. I hope Vince wasn't too down because of this hindrance. He was made into a sentinel by all of that excess physical labor, not to mention his father, who scared the shit out of me. You'd have thought that guy has seen warfare. It made me feel sorry for Drew sometimes. That little guy was so much like my little sister in what he was interested in. Too bad the poor boy fell into a coma. They'd have gotten along marvelously, if they weren't still in that "boysgirls are yucky" phase. They were both tweens... I heard that the same thing-the coma issue-occurred with Cruce, who was a pretty good guy. He was a friend of mine, but we only ever hung out at lunch. It was sad to think that he wouldn't have been around today, and possibly for the rest of our high school career. Maybe longer.

My older brother Zack, a Senior, was driving me to school, though I didn't really need a ride. Our house was well within walking distance of Metedia. He always offered to drive because it was more convenient. With gas prices as high as they were these days, I had an argument for that. He never seemed to mind. Zack was a good guy. He was always that type of big brother who was better at everything than me. I really would not have been lying if I said he was: smarter, stronger, clearly better with girls... I couldn't have asked for a better big brother though. The guy always told me, "You've got more creativity and potential in you than I got in my 4.5 GPA." It flattered me, but it also bothered me. The thing about Zack was that he wasn't really capable of complimenting someone without talking about his own awesomeness. He wasn't particularly headstrong though. He was tall, for sure. At 6'5", he was as tall as my dad, and dwarfed me. I was a modest 5'9", which was still alright for my age. Zack and I shared the same brown eyes and the same blond hair. Mine was a bit shorter, while his was more surfer-esque. His shoulders were broad and separated well while mine were smaller and less-this is my self-esteem in a nutshell-developed. I often wore basketball shorts, but that didn't reflect on my hobbies or anything. I never really played any sports. I was considering joining cross-country with Vince, but I was never good at making up my mind.

My hobby seldom came as an ordinary thing to most people! I was a DJ. Yes, I performed live at places, which usually included high school dances and other minor shows. I didn't perform alone though. There were two others with me, originally one until we discovered a hidden prodigy. My first music partner-you may have guessed Vince-was actually Zack. Before we allowed the third member to join, people just called us the DJ Brothers. It stuck, at least until we let our little sister Zelda join. Zelda, unknown to us, had this freakishly wild talent for just _generating_ good dance music. It has come more naturally to her than Zack and I, and, given her age, that might not have been apparent to some people. With her on the team, we adopted the name 3-DJ. It was a play on how Zelda added a third dimension to our music with her sporadic rhythms and fresh beats. Zack originally managed the beats and a bit of the singing, since he was amazing and played guitar like a professional. And was in choir. With Zelda tagging along, he shifted his attention to dubstep wubs, oscillations, and distortion. I have always managed the melodies; strings, bass, trance, and euro stuff. It felt strange to be considered famous around town, even in other places. We've been on tour before, but as the DJ Brothers only. Zelda was too young to travel, according to our parents.

I never really expected getting into music with my two siblings. I knew I loved to dance to techno, even though I couldn't because, based on Vince's remarks, I was white. That was him saying he couldn't dance either, but I disagreed. He had experience with running. I thought the two went hand in hand. I was so wrong...

"'Sup, Zatchers? You feeling fine?" Zack questioned me, but I suspected he knew what was wrong.

"Just kind of worried about Drew and stuff." I answered. I left it at that, rather than diving further into my concerns.

"Yeah, I get what you're sayin'. Crazy things happen though. 'Never seen anything like this."

"Do you think we'll see more of it?"

"More what? Crazy stuff?"

"I guess..." I paused. I wasn't really sure what I was going on about. "Crazy stuff" was particularly vague, as per the amount of how much of it exists in-and in this case out-of the world. "More meteorites..."

"I don't think we have to worry. They said that shower ended, yeah? 'S what I heard." I didn't respond to this, partially because I knew it was true. I couldn't think straight today regardless. Something in my mind was bothering me, and it went without saying that whatever it may have been was almost too difficult to explain. I wouldn't have been able to formulate any words anyway. Zatch was in the process of parking the car. I grasped the shoulder straps of my backpack, which I usually placed between my legs in the front seat for convenience. As the car stopped, I opened the door and, right then, knew that the air over Metedia was different. It was almost grim. The parking lot was less rowdy than usual. Students walking around were silent amongst each other. It didn't feel right at all, and I had a sinking feeling that I knew why it was so glum here. Now, Metedia wasn't a very large school. It was probably around intermediate when it came to public high school sizes. There were just under fifteen hundred students here, so it wasn't like the place was tiny. The point is, word spread pretty fast. Seeing as how Vince was on the news yesterday, he'd probably be getting a lot of attention today. I met up with the guy near the locker rooms every morning and usually for lunch as well. Weight training was his first class. I had the same class at a different period. My first class was nearby though, so it worked out fine.

Yeah, when I got there I didn't see Vince. He must've been late, but if I knew the guy well, and I did, he was always an early riser. He got here an hour before me once. That dude was really tough on himself sometimes, if not, all the time. It was like he intended on being perfect in the areas that mattered to him most. While there's nothing wrong with trying hard, I wish I could have made him realize that he's got limits. I hate to even think it, but maybe this whole thing with Drew already had an effect on Vince. Relating, of course, to limits. I wasn't too sure what it would have done to his physical limits. He cared less about his brain than his brawn...

So I didn't really know what I was talking about here.

The day started, and Vince wasn't anywhere to be seen. That worried me. The dude probably skipped out on school today because he was too depressed. Actually, to me, that's a perfectly valid reason for not showing up. I wasn't so sure about how Vince's dad felt about that. He was diabolical when it came to Vince's attendance. As weird a way as that was of putting it, it was the only appropriate adjective that crossed my mind.

My first class was Geometry. There weren't really any buddies of mine in that class, so it really went without saying that it was probably my least favorite class this year. The teacher was alright, and I didn't struggle in the subject. It was just pretty boring. 'Guess that was typical if you didn't care for it. The next class I had was only mildly boring. It was 3-D art, which I think my older brother had at a different period. I had a few acquaintances taking it, so it was cool. Break was after that, and after break was P.E. for me. Cruce and a couple of his buddies were in that class! I quite enjoyed it, to be honest. We always ended up on the same team for whatever sport we were playing. Sadly, and surely enough, Cruce wasn't there. I had heard he slipped into the same coma Drew did. Really, he was such a neat guy. I hoped like hell he was going to be alright. I mean, it was inevitable that he'd wake up sometime, yeah? ...

Leaning against the chain link fence in the basketball courts, I watched as a few of the other kids shot hoops in what free time we had left. The surround area was pretty grassy, considering Autumnridge used to be a large forest. It was all very sylvan and full of nature. A lot of people considered the place to be a landmark. I took it for granted, and knew I shouldn't have. There were always plenty of environmental awareness pep talks to keep my mind on the matter. In any case, I was finished playing basketball. The shower bell sounded, and we all slowly made our way to the locker rooms. My locker was located next to a friend of Cruce's. His name was Al; an athletic enthusiast and straight-A genius, not to mention one heck of a guitar player. He kinda reminded me of Zack. We liked to talk about the plays made in the games at P.E.. As we had our laugh about the guy who stood under the hoop and got bonked in the nose with the ball, he retrieved his cellphone from his pocket, having already changed back into his casual denims... Man, I couldn't even describe the look of horror on his face when he read a text he'd gotten during the class. His eyes widened. I couldn't tell if he was breathing...

"...Oh, shit..." He cursed, his eyes fixed on the text message. I bit my lip, curious to see what had caused this frightened reaction. Did his girlfriend break up with him? It was that sort of reaction, if I could even have compared it to anything. I left him along for a period of time long enough to assume that he had finished reading the message.

"What's up, man? You look freakin' terrified." I informed him with a chuckle. He glanced at me as though I were insane for laughing at all. Well I didn't know what was going on, so, at the moment, I was pretty innocent.

"My dad found Vince's stuff at the Obsidian Circle. And one of those meteorites from the news."

My heart sank.

"Wha-...?" I felt dense as all I could have done was whimper. I froze, having just removed my P.E. shirt. Despite the warmth of the day, I felt a chill run through my body... "What are you saying?"

"Dad walks the dog around there a lot in the morning. He was barking at something, and they found Vince's crap. Vince wasn't there though." He paused, taking a quick look at his phone again. Without taking his eyes from the message, he shook his head. "Clothes and everything. No Vince."

That was the deciding factor between a good day and a bad day on an already solemn day. My thoughts were so frenzied that I couldn't even formulate an eloquent sentence. Any noise that came from my mouth probably sounded embarrassing, but I wasn't really paying any attention to that. My best friend could have been killed right there... But how? Just how? How would it have been possible that he'd be killed like that only days after his brother's fall into a coma? There was the meteorite in the Circle spot! Al just told me about the meteorite! I leaned against my locker with a hand over half of my face...

"Are you fucking serious?" I asked, exasperated, with a clear hint of frustration in my tone. "No sign of Vince anywhere?"

"Yeah, dude. This is getting weird, like with Cruce and all? Vince's bro?" He shrugged, returning his phone to his pocket. "I'm probably gonna call my folks at lunch and ask them more about it."

"Knowing your dad, the cops are probably already on the case... Goddamn, man, that's horrible." I slid my hand down my face, my cheek stretching as I did so. I rubbed the back of my neck and sat on the bench underneath the lockers, slipping into my shoes. "I think I'm gonna skip the rest of school during lunch."

"Yeah, but you just said the cops could be there. They'll know if you're truant." I gave him a look that almost seemed grateful. He was trying to talk sense into me, and I was thankful for that. He was right. The police were very well aware that school would still be in session during those times, and encountering them off campus wasn't the best thing.

"...Okay, well... H-how do we know it's actually Vince's stuff?"

"Dad probably recognized the backpack or something. Maybe he checked the assignments?" That was another good point. Al's dad had a natural inquisitiveness that really helped out in situations such as these. That and he was a detective. I supposed that had to do with the inquisitiveness in the first place...

Al didn't speak any further, and neither did I. I was far too gone in my own swarm of thoughts to pay attention to anything other than the requirements, those being the directions to my next class: Biology.

I had that class with Danithan, who was a good friend of mine and Vince's. That guy... He was pretty damn enigmatic. You could tell just by looking at him that he was no coward. Danithan had a heart of steel, and had this habit of being undaunted... and wearing sunglasses. Seriously. I don't think I've ever seen the guy without his sunglasses. He wore the things when it was dark, for the love of God. I told about what Al said to me in the locker room during our partner work or whatever the teacher called it. Obviously, Danithan was my partner. His reaction was pretty obvious too. He said nothing at first. He gave me a brief look of "insert level of disbelief here", considering I couldn't see his eyes... We talked more about it on the way to our casual spot at lunch.

"So Vinnie's gone missing?" Danithan asked me, referring to Vince by a name which, put simply, weirded me out.

"Yeah, and that's pretty much all I know..." I spoke, keeping my head forward as we walked through the outdoor halls of grassy Metedia High. For a fairly small school, there were a lot of acres of free space, give or take an abundance of trees. Dan knew I was down about this. That much was clear, and I hoped it was to everyone around me. Though, at the same time, I wished Dan talked a bit more so I didn't feel like I had to endlessly question Vince's disappearance. I didn't know the answer, so I knew there was no point in asking myself a huge barrage of pointless questions...

When the two of us arrived, Zack was already there. Cruce's group was standing around with their heads low nearby. On top of their good friend's coma, Al had likely already told them the news about Vince. I tell you, Cruce's cousin looked _devastated_. First of all, he was the only one related to a meteorite victim who decided to show up if you considered Vince's absence. Topher was this hoppity, upbeat cheery schoolgirl boy who was habitually "clingy" with his cousin. So it was understandable why he was depressed... His sorrow and my anguish were probably on equal ground at the moment.

"'Ey, Zatch." I heard my brother call me. He made a motion with his head for me to approach him. "You okay, man? I heard that stuff about Vince from Al over there."

"I'm not really 'okay'..." I admitted. He knew that much already. My best friend-I know I've said it already-could have died. I was concerned to a point where I was actually worried about Vince. If that seemed redundant, here's why: Vince is Vince. He'd always been the kind of guy to let nothing bring him down. There was no point in worrying about someone who seemed to always come through a crisis. 'Course, now there was this exception where he could have just been raped and killed, at least, if I remembered the whole clothes portion of the story. I couldn't imagine any other reason for the loss of clothes prior to death.

"Sorry, dude." He gave me a soft pat on the shoulder. I probably would have just buried myself in him if we weren't in public. Ironically, Topher did that to Cruce almost every day. Ironically again, I felt motivated to go over and speak to that little transvestite. Oh. He was a transvestite, by the way. Real girly. Looked like a girl. No one seemed to mind it or care though. I certainly didn't. It made him who he was: Topher.

"It's... cool." I shook my head. It definitely wasn't cool. "I'm gonna go talk to Topher. We're dealing with crap that's alike in some manner."

"Sure, go for it." Zack smirked. I turned to Cruce's group, which they called the Circle. I wasn't sure if it had anything to do with Autumnridge's famous Obsidian Circle, or anything. I heard Zack begin to converse with Danithan. At that point, I had made my way to that poor little dude sitting against the wall on his own. It looked real evident that he'd told the others he wanted to be left alone... Well, he didn't tell me.

"Heeey..." I sat near him as I called, one leg stretched out and the other bent up. I wasn't given the cold shoulder very often, but that was, without a doubt, the case here as Topher turned a blind eye to my presence. "...Are you as worried about him as I am about Vince?"

That got his attention.

"Mm?" He gave me a curious, one-eyed look, as his hair blocked one of his turquoise eyes.

"I'm sure you've heard by now." I shifted my attention to the small bits of rock on the ground, picking one up and rubbing it between my finger and thumb. "I heard it from Al."

"I heard..." He watched as I toyed with the rock. "I want to know what's happening. This is so unreal. Meteors? That make you sleep? It's scary..." He undid his ponytail, the hair tie around his wrist. He gave his head a quick shake to loosen his long hair up. I was glad he was listening to me. It was a step forward.

"It's horrifying. Truth is stranger than fiction... and that kind of sucks." I flicked the rock, watching it land a few feet in front of me. "But you, Topher. How are you doing?"

"I feel so terrible. If only I trusted my gut and told Cruce not to go outside, this wouldn't have happened."

"Well, he's stubborn, right? Maybe he would have gone anyway? He's a lot like Vince, you know."

"Mhmm." Topher wrapped his arms around his knees, his chin resting on his upper arm.

"I was thinking of ditching around now to go and see what's going on in the woodland. Al told me that was a bad idea... So, if you're up for it, would you like to head over there after school?" I faced him with an honest smile. I wasn't really sure why I asked this question. I mean, I really didn't have anything to gain out of it. So, yes. Why did I just ask him that? I was worried about him, for sure...

"Oh. Like, together?" I could tell his face lightened up to this. I never did question why. "Mmm, okay. Where do you want to meet after 7th period? Here?"

"Here's fine. I'll let Zack know."

"Hey, um... A-are you maybe doing... you know... like anything else after that?" He eyed me with and irresistible orb of blue. Now, I wasn't gay or anything, but I still thought Topher was exceptionally cute. I had nothing against being in a relationship with him, but it'd be a shocker to everyone I know. I didn't think I was ready for the world to see me with a boyfriend, 'cause, like I said, I'm not gay. Possibly bi, but... I don't know, maybe I was shallow. Upon thinking about all of this, Topher's question nearly eluded me.

"Nah. Not really. Now that I got that English project done, I'm pretty free." Sometimes I said things that reminded me of the concept of consequences. I was tempted to leave school at lunch. English was right after lunch. I would have missed the deadline to turn in that hefty project. "Why? Do you wanna hang out?"

"Would you be alright with that? I'm so bored without Cruce around." Again, the poor thing lowered his head, folding his hands together and twiddling his thumbs slowly.

"Well sure! I'm fine with it. I bet Zack would be too." I gave him a friendly smirk, despite his lack of attention toward my face then. "What do you want to do?"

"Would it be okay if we just walked around the woodland?"

"Yeah, that sounds good. Anywhere else after that?"

"Uhm. Hm, I dunno. Maybe we'll see afterward?"

"'Kay." I gave a few slow nods. I hadn't been given much homework today so far, and there was no doubt in my mind that I'd be in the woodland in a few hours. I had little a problem with Topher joining me. It was a bit like how he had no problem with leaning against my shoulder. He did so, and it was incredibly difficult for me to resist the urge to wrap an arm around him. Again, my actions flew full speed beyond my decisions, and, yes, that arm around that boy's shoulder was, in fact, mine!

"Thanks..." He whispered to me. I've never really heard that sort of tone from him. It was so soft and gentle; a lot like... him. Honestly, in that moment, I didn't pay attention to any looks we might have been given. It was just he and I in our solemn little moment... Until Zack came over with Danithan. It was comfortable, but it didn't last all that long.

And it almost left me wanting more of those moments...

Anyway, I talked to BB, that is, Big Brother (and I'm not referencing the character from the novel) and he said it was perfectly fine. The woodland was within walking distance of practically everyone's house in Autumnridge. It was no problem.

English came next, obviously. With the exception of Zack, we all walked together to the nearby class. If we tried to walk through the halls with as plentiful as our numbers were, we'd crowd up the damn place. On the way to the class, Danithan and Zack were really the only ones talking. I heard a few things from Al and Emelina, who was sweet girl that _clearly_ had the hots for Al. She "fangirled" over Topher's hyper-homosexuality from time to time. I was surprised she didn't notice us basically cuddling back there. That seemed like something she'd normally squee over.

We all turned in those projects. A few students presented theirs today! The teacher was not strict at all. He was the coolest English teacher I've had, and that was the best class of all. Seriously, this project was like the largest thing we had to do until something before finals, then finals themselves. And, I tell you, I knew _everyone _in that class. It was pretty great. Of course, I wasn't really in the mood to be at school in the first place.

The people who presented did a marvelous job on their research and all. First up was that smart-ass (in a very positive way) guy Derrick. He had like the IQ of a rocket scientist from the future's future. And he didn't even strike me as a nerd. 'Was always a little uptight though. Next up was a Hispanic girl named Maripossa who makes some epic cookies. That implied we already had one of those class parties. We did. She did a pretty good job! Last came a friendly yet fairly quiet dude who's name began with a J. I knew him the least out of everyone, because, and I restate this, he was always so quiet and, to be frank, mysterious. Sometimes I wished our teacher wouldn't call us "Mr. or Miss" then a last name. I would have been able to remember the guy's name if not! Oh wait...

That's right. His name was Jovany.

'Not sure why I wanted to remember it so badly.

...

When the bell rang, I gave myself a mental boost. Only one more class left, then I'd be closer to the cause of a lot of what made this day so odd for a good number of people.


	5. Case 2: Zatch Brainwave Allure

**CASE 2: DJ ZATCH HUMMINGS - Allure of Brainwaves**

_**Note: **I feel kind of "eh" about this one! It felt very rushed... Well, sorta._

**_Disclaimer:_**_ I don't claim possession over characters originating from the franchises of Chun Soft, Game Freak, Nintendo, and The Pokémon Company._**_ They belong to their rightful owners._**

* * *

><p>After my last class, which was just an elective, I met Topher at the usual spot. He had his phone out, which told me that he had most likely alerted his parents (aunt and uncle technically) that he'd be out. I was glad I got a little break from my usual habit! I know the day was pretty glum, but I was not in the mood to make music. Which was weird. Usually, emotions bolstered my creativity. But I didn't have to concern myself with that, and, again, nor did I want to.<p>

"Hey! You ready to head out?" I gave him a soft pat on the shoulder from behind. I wasn't sure what goaded me into that. I just did it. He seemed to be in a better mood, which I assumed when he gave me a bright smile.

"Uh-huh. So are we gonna go with our stuff, or...?"

"I'm gonna swing by the Senior lot, since it's on the way. BB said he'd drop my stuff off at home. I don't think he'd mind taking yours too, and we could drop by my place afterwards?" I had given this idea some thought during period 7 since there wasn't much else to do. Aside from breathe I guess.

"Oh, if he doesn't mind, then certainly."

That was pretty much the plan for today. Seriously, I didn't think this day could have gotten any stranger. Here I was with this guy I didn't know particularly well. We were about to go to the forested region of Autumnridge to simply relax due to the meteorites that made our friends fall into an unrelenting sleep. What more awaited me? What more awaited Topher?

The police sure awaited us.

When we got to the woodland, backs free of our school gear, police vehicles of a few sorts were parked in a pretty disorderly manner within the circular lot before the path into the treeline. Topher or I didn't see that yellow caution tape anywhere, though I suspected we'd be told to leave the "scene"...

...

As soon as I set foot on the dirt path, I shivered. My head pulsed with pain. I felt my heartbeat gradually perish... The environment around me became even more lush with color and... then I heard Topher call me.

"-tch? Zatch, are you okay?" His hand was on my shoulder. He was shaking me lightly. The pain subsided, but my suspicions mounted an entirely new peak. I've never felt this inclined to pursue something; to reach something. Whatever lay at the end of that was something I couldn't have left unattended to in my destiny. It became my ultimate goal. I had to go...

What I didn't know then was that I had been reached through a complex series of brainwaves reverberating throughout the woodland. At the time, I didn't know whose brainwaves they were, but they were powerful. And they were not human. I remembered being convinced that some sort of alien life form was in the woods with us. I thought it was pretty legit. It would have explained the meteorites in a way.

"Hey, we need to go to the Obsidian Circle." I said quite suddenly, Topher not expecting that statement.

"But what about the police? Is there another way?"

"Always."

Our next adventure was something Topher did not like, though he refused to let me go on my own. We weaved through the trunks of the trees, pushed our way through the thick bushes, and got a bit dirty in the process. One thing I knew about Topher was that he hated the thought of being dirty. First of all, the guy constantly smelled like fruity flowers or flowery fruits. Second, he practically spelled it out with his reluctance to join me. I didn't mind if he wanted to stay back, though, I still did want him with me... I wasn't sure why. At that time, there was no persuading me to do anything other than locate the source of the brainwaves. They were at the Obsidian Circle. No. They weren't there exactly. There was something powerful there. The brainwaves were separate...

...

I stopped.

The Circle was but feet away from our position. I knew because I heard voices. The authorities were here. Topher was silent... The glow beyond the bushes was radiant as a fire... The waves were no longer ahead of me. They were no longer behind me. They were at neither side of me... I breathed warm air out of my nose and turned the other direction, giving such an effort not to disturb the noisy plants and twigs nearby...

Topher's neck was completely extended, his head back a ways. What he was trying to see was something I was trying to find.

The waves were above us. In the trees. I, too, focused upward.

"Is someone up there?" He asked me, aware that I'd just tuned in to the source of his attention.

"Some_thing _is up there... I think it's what I was after."

"What is it?"

I didn't answer. And that was because something else did. We happened to be looking at that something else. There was movement, and then blue. Blue eyes. Larger than Topher's, and encircled in what looked like black rings. Around that was green. I made out the rest or most of its body. That. Was the largest bug. I. Have. Ever. Seen. And it was the source of the brainwaves.

"What the hell is that thing?" Topher gasped, struggling to maintain a low profile.

"Maybe an alien?" I hypothesized.

"D-do you think it has something to do with Vince?"

"...Possibly." Its eyes were fixed, and so were mine. We were unmoving. If it was afraid of us, it could have long since vanished from our sight. The camouflage was so impressive. If I lost focus for a second, I'd have had trouble regaining it... Yeah, that thing was _not_ scared at _all_. It looked it at first. Based on its decision to stay and watch us with the knowledge of us watching back, I'd have said that this creature had the means to do some terrible things to us. Topher knew as well as I did, and wanted out. Now.

"We need to leave, this is crazy..." He whimpered, stepping back a bit after tugging at the side of my shirt... It was too late for any last laments about the situation here. Silent as a mouse (though clearly not one) the thing lowered itself from the branch, descending smoothly with the rapid flapping of its clear wings. Topher whimpered again, scampering back a bit.

"Oh shit, it-" I had no time to finish that pointless thought. It was hovering in my face. I turned away with an arm concealing myself as best as it could have done. I heard the fluttering of wings cease. It had landed... I scanned around, finding the creature at my feet, and... suddenly it wasn't as frightening as I had thought a moment ago. Topher kept his distance, but I felt at ease. It was actually kind of cute, whatever it was. I may have chosen the wrong course of action when I lowered myself to its level, but I was curious. And so was it... "Hey, little fella! You're... not like... you know..." I shrugged. "'Not gonna eat my face off, right? I need that item. You know, my face?"

"No, uh, Zatch. You're fine. You and Topher are fine!" It spoke. Perfect English. What. The. Hell? It was so unexpected that was positive I had just lost a few brain cells trying to prepare for that should it happen again. And yeah, it did! "I'm not going to hurt you, and I'm not sure how I could hurt you." The voice was high pitched, though not so much that it was chipmunk-status. It was well below that point. Even still, there was something to it I was familiar with right off the bat. It knew our names too. I probably should have been most concerned with that matter...

I remained still and silent.

"C'mon. It's just me. It's Vince. Look, I don't know what happ-" You're damn right I didn't let him finish that sentence. I did something Topher would have done and swept the little thing right up in my arms as though he were a puppy.

"Gggh, you little bastard...!" I whispered loudly, squeezing him close to my chest. "Why did you go and turn into a giant bug like that?"

"Urg-I d-didn't really-agh-have a choice. Hey now! Easy, easy!" I let him down. "There's a lot of stuff going on here, and I can't be seen. I might have made the mistake of showing myself to you two, so you have to promise me not to tell anyone you saw me here, okay?"

"Aww, but duuuude. How long are you going to be all hidden and whatnot?"

"I don't know. Maybe I'll turn back soon..." Vince shrugged, staring at his stubby hands.

"You know, Zatch, you're awfully calm for what we're seeing here." Topher spoke up. He was right, but I was relieved beyond his understanding. I was so glad to see Vince (sorta) still alive. I didn't care what he had somehow turned into. The most important thing here was that he was... well, still here. "Me? I could have run off screaming by now! But thank you, Vince, for letting us know it was you... Even though I'm kinda freaking out. Vince, how did this happen?"

"I'm not sure what to tell you... I suppose I can tell you when it happened. I was on my way to school. Then I turned into this."

"Good story." I chuckled. "What're you going to do?"

"...Tell you what. How about I meet you at your place, Zatch?"

"W-whoa! Without being seen? How're you going to-"

"I know my way around this town, man. And now I can _fly_" He twisted his back toward us, his wings fluttering for a second. "I'll find a detour through the forest here and stay out of sight."

"Whatever works for you, bug boy. Man, check you out... You're so tight looking. You've got the antennae and the whole... bud thing..." I probably sounded like a dumbass. I was glad Topher found it funny. He giggled a little, but I could tell he was still nervous. And possibly hysterical. "Sorry, sorry. We'll fawn over your bug-ness later. Topher, let's make this quick, okay?"

He nodded. Vince flew off. We partnered back up. We left... And through all of that excitement, I couldn't help but forget about the pounding headache which I thought I saw the end of. It turned out I was wrong... I was so wrong. About everything. Things were about to get much weirder. Even more so than they already were.

And it was only MONDAY.


	6. Case 2: Zatch Change

**CASE 2: DJ ZATCH HUMMINGS - The Change  
><strong>

_**Note: **Now this. I liked how this turned out. Okay okay people! Leave a review or something and let me know who you want to see next: Topher or Zelda. The order doesn't matter, and I'm perfectly fine with doing either of them! (Of course, if I don't get any reviews, it's cool. I'll decide on it on my own, but I think it's fun to have some interaction!)  
><em>

**_Disclaimer:_**_ I don't claim possession over characters originating from the franchises of Chun Soft, Game Freak, Nintendo, and The Pokémon Company._**_ They belong to their rightful owners._**

* * *

><p>We, including Topher and myself, left the woodland, otherwise known as the scene of what investigators might have defined to be a crime. They didn't know the truth, and I was unsure whether or not I could have still believed it, despite having known it personally since my childhood. Vince. He wasn't dead. He was alive, though no longer human. And something had attracted me to his location, though how could I have explained what it was? Maybe it was paranormal? Maybe Vince's brain was altered in that state? The theories were countless, but the truth was way stranger than any fiction I ever read. That wasn't saying much though.<p>

I had to say, Cruce's cousin was a silly little sucker, but he knew when to be serious. Even I had trouble determining that in this case. Of course, the the results of the meteorites was taken seriously in my mind, but Vince? What the hell even happened to him? Did he ingest something? I wondered what modern science had to say about that, at least, whenever he decided to come out of the shadows. If I was in that position, which, no offense to him, thankfully I wasn't, I would have done the same thing. In spite of that, scientists were probably up in arms with the meteorites. Hopefully they weren't falling into a coma.

Like I said, it was only Monday... But strange things happened after we left the woodland. I couldn't believe it was possible, but the cycle of oddities continued beyond what had already occurred on this day. The brainwaves filled my head with images of a hospital. They were unclear, and pretty surreal, but I was sure it was that hospital. Was something there? I couldn't tell. I didn't even know if the invocation of images was caused by brainwaves; it was a hunch. Likewise, it seemed like my own brain was trying to reach something, and it wasn't a hospital. It was someone or something _inside_ the hospital...

And if all that wasn't enough, as we left the Obsidian Circle, I felt the presence of something residing over me. A lot was going on, and given one more of these hallucinations or whatever, I would have most likely been overwhelmed.

"Hey!" I called out to Topher, as we were well out of earshot from the investigators. He didn't respond, but he did look my way. "What'd you think of that display?"

"Huh?"

"Vince! Was that something or what?"

"Oh, him. Gosh, I..." He watched the ground as he walked, both of us moving at a quick pace. I could tell he was dumbfounded. 'Didn't blame him for a second. "I don't know. I'm still stunned. I got a good look at him though, and he looks really cute! But I'd feel bad for taking this the wrong way. This could be really bad for him."

"I don't know, he didn't seem too bothered. But he's Vince. 'Never know." I gathered Vince was rather worried about Drew. That might have been an understatement. Nonetheless, being a big green bug was taking his mind off of his little brother... Huh... For some reason, I couldn't stop picturing Drew doing really odd things. I didn't mean that in a negative or perverted way. It was like I saw him just standing in front of me with this odd smile. Like I had done something nice for him. It wasn't too easy to explain. Then again, neither was this whole Monday dilemma.

It took us about ten minutes to get to my place from where we were. My place was alongside the banks of one of the woodland streams, so it wasn't all that difficult to get there. Vince was very smart when it came to directions, so he knew what he was talking about when he knew how to get here via the forest and _hide_ until we made it. It probably took the freak of nature about a minute to get there. When we arrived, I scanned the trees and I saw nothing. I knew he was there, but, again, he blended like no one's business. And really, I didn't expect him to come shooting out of the canopy presenting himself in such a "WHASSUP, AUTUMNRIDGE? I'M A GIANT BUG" fashion. As much as I'd be entertained by that, it'd be best if it didn't happen.

Topher was smart about this. He checked around the area, rather than in the trees. After confirming that it was clear, he faced the treeline and gave a thumbs-up. Vince flew out of there like a green bolt of lightning, a few leaves following his flight trail for a second. He rushed to the nearest car, which happened to be my dad's truck parked outside the garage, and hid underneath it with ease. That actually almost startled me it was so fast.

"Vince?" I spoke in a low tone, lowering myself to my hands and knees and checking under the car. There he was, with his big blue eyes. "Holy crap, dude."

"Shhhh!" With an arm forward, Vince made this motion of shooing me away. "You'll get attention if you look at me down here like that!"

"Pshaw, I can just say there's a cat under the truck."

"I'm not a cat." Vince clarified. I laughed a little. He had a point though. The last thing I wanted to do was draw attention after he had worked hard to stay concealed. "Oh. Goddammit, I forgot something back there."

"What?" I questioned him.

"Just something I thought I might need for survival." He began to crawl out, his head peering from underneath the truck. I lifted myself to my knees and watched him. "Hey, is Zack home?"

"Shit, he is. And he's picked up Zelda by now." I knew there was more than one way into the house, especially for something Vince's size, but Zelda was a curious girl who just had to be up and about. I was open to ideas.

"We can sneak passed your little sister, right?" Topher wondered. He knew Zelda as an enterprising little lady, based on her music and desire to be with us DJ Brothers for every little project.

"I'm not sure. She's probably in the living room doing homework by now. Gah, fuck, if I had my backpack, I could totally stuff Vince in it."

"I'm not that small. My head would stick out. I'd look like a plush or something."

"Oh oh oh, I have an idea!" Topher hopped a couple times like the schoolgirl he was. "What if one of us just carry you in? Like a stuffed animal?"

"That..." I pointed at Topher. "Might work. What do you think? You cool with that?" I returned my attention to Vince, who was now laying flat on his chest with arms extended out from underneath the vehicle, which looked silly.

"Hah! For real?" He chuckled to himself, lowering his face flat against the concrete for a moment. "Yeah, okay."

That was the plan. I offered to carry Vince in. He wasn't too shy of the idea of me holding him. I was more surprised that Topher didn't beg to carry him. Anyway, my house was one story. It was techy inside, mainly because of my siblings and I as 3DJ. My father played guitar. He was the one who taught Zack how to play. My mom is more of a business lady for us, in a way. She liked to organize things and conduct our matters in an orderly manner. We had a studio built in near the living room, which cost a pretty penny. It was worth every cent. That was really the only noticeable feature about our house. Oh, that and the dance floor and stage in the backyard. That was a pretty long story though.

The front door was open. It wasn't supposed to be. Even though Autumnridge was pretty peaceful, someone could have walked in. It could have been anyone! Possibly a transvestite who lives nearby or even a green fairy alien bug... Both of them being cute... (And friends of mine.)

Sure enough, Zelda was sitting on the living room couch with her backpack next to her and the TV on. She was writing on a piece of paper for an assignment that looked like it was possibly math. Zelda was an early tween of about four feet six inches. She was no ordinary girl. I've already mentioned a few of her interests, those including music and playing Pokémon and-right there my head felt a bit weird again-anything that seemed atypical of something a little girl would do... Well I wasn't too sure how many girls her age actually played Pokémon...

Again, this weird qualm instigated at the thought of Pokémon. My vision even blurred a couple times...

"Zatchie!" Zelda hollered in my direction. Instantly, she dropped everything she was doing and stood up, her eyes just _locked_on my Vince "plush". She gasped. "WHOA! Where did you get THAT?"

"Oh, um..." I stammered a bit there.

"He got it from me!" That was a nice save, courtesy of Topher. "I told him to hug it tightly so that he'd feel better!" He giggled. I just grinned like an idiot and started making my way to the hallway.

"You like Pokémon, Miss Topher?" I froze. Completely. Not a breath. Literally, I was stopped in mid-step. I think Vince's eye twitched at that point. I felt his wings move.

"Oh, I... Well..." Topher searched around for an answer, though just ended up shrugging and giggling again. Though nervously.

_Pokémon?_ I thought to myself in the five seconds I had to, you know, think to myself. _No... wait... I... ...Drew...?_...I was zoning out...

"Can I see the Celebi? Please? It's so cool looking!" Zelda approached me. My legs weakened. I felt Vince tense up. As silly as this all seemed, it was the worst case scenario for him. And for me? I had no idea what was going on. My chest, my back, my head, my arms, my legs. Everything began to tickle and tingle and even sting a little. My headache got so much worse in that moment... I was shaking... Trembling.

The hospital. I saw the hospital. My mind shot an arrow to the source of this encroaching agony. The lobby. The halls. The rooms. The patient. It was Drew. Drew... was doing this...

"Zatch?" I heard Topher's voice. "You look like you're going to be sick."

Somewhat.

"Uh-y-yeah, here. Be careful with him-I-I gotta...g-..." As foolish as the idea may have been, and I know Vince was thinking this, I handed him off gently to my sister. Topher gave me a look of sheer concern, as though I were about to have a heart attack. Based on descriptions I've heard of that, this was pretty worrisome. And it was getting worse. Two spots on top of my head began to ail me with such pain. The same problem arose just above my behind... I began to feel like I was being gradually electrocuted from the inside. Sparing no thought, I raced to the restroom as far away from here as possible.

My mind flared. Lights and symbols obscured my vision as I barely managed to grope my way to the restroom. The symbols were familiar to me. I have seen them elsewhere, but I was not concerned with that right now. This electric pain was great enough to fell a beast of some huge sort. I wasn't all that huge, and, probably, not all that alive for very much longer. I shut the bathroom door behind me, lacking the dexterity to even lock the damn thing. I wanted to be alone to cope with this pain...

My eyes were locked on my reflection in the mirror, which seemed to me to be a stranger with only some of my physical qualities. The hue of my skin was yellow now. No... it wasn't the skin that was yellow. There was fuzz on that skin. It was fur. I was growing... fur? Tumult ablaze within my mind and body, I removed my shirt, tossing it aside carelessly. It was absolutely true. There was fur all over me. Yellow fur. Eyes wide, I gaze upon myself. Turning my back slightly, I noticed a brown stripe or two... I faced into the mirror once again. My cheeks had changed. They had these circular scarlet blotches. My nose darkened and shrank, but it was as though the shape of my face was changing before my eyes. It was, and I was shrinking, therefore this was all becoming harder and harder to see with each passing second. I kept closing my eyes, opening them to see Drew standing near me in the mirror, but not in reality. As I shrank, I felt entangled in fabric, which happened to be my jeans. I reached out desperately to the counter with my smaller arms, fingers absent from my vision. I raised my chin, giving so much effort into seeing myself. The last thing I saw in the mirror were two pointy, black-tipped ears: the sources of my most recent headache. After that, it became a simple task, despite everything being a thousand times more difficult at the moment, to remove _myself_from my jeans, socks, and shoes. Already, my legs were miniature, and shaped differently. I felt like a kangaroo, in a sense. And in all this, I just about finally noted the zigzag-shaped tail behind me. I had these stubby paws for hands and feet. Yellow fur all over. Brown stripes, red patches, lightning bolt tail. Even I knew this.

I just turned into a Pikachu...

...Right?

The pain escaped. I was numb all over. Falling back onto my shirt with my small limbs out, I stared at the ceiling, breathing as though I had finished a marathon and a half.

_So that's what Pokémon had to do with it... Vince, you changed into a Pokémon...? Christ, so did I. And now everyone will know, because everyone knows what a Pikachu is, and I guess that's me..._ I let my mind drift off into a tranquil state of dizzy sanctuary and meditative nothingness. It was like my memory had left for a few seconds, then returned, though damaged and dilapidated. It was up to me to fix it... Thank God that was easier than it sounded. I remembered my name, my place in this world, and the people important to me. That was all I needed... But I refused to stop there. In this dreamy positive agony, I let my acceptance hover above me as an entity in itself, watching my pathetic little body lay on this floor. Once I gathered it had finished examining me, I felt ready to take it in. I wasn't...

"Cr...Crap..." I whispered, realizing right away the challenge of speaking with this body. It probably didn't sound very natural. "Pika" or something seemed like it would have been easy to say. But no, I still spoke. "Drew...?" I asked for Vince's brother. It felt like he was in the room with me. I believed I saw him... Vince...

It all made sense, it and _should have_made sense right away. A pile of Vince's stuff? He turned into a-what was it-Celebi right there? But how? How on EARTH did that-COULD-that happen to anyone? It was unthinkable... It had something to do with Drew, who had something to do with the meteorite.

Footsteps. A knock at the bathroom door.

"Zatch? Are you okay? We heard you yell!" It was Topher's soft voice. I hadn't realized I yelled. I must have done so to drown out the pain. I didn't remember it. My memory was still vague and cracked as a weak mirror. I'm glad I remembered little things like Topher's voice... I liked his voice... I didn't respond. I just wanted to hear it again. To relax me... "Ohhh, you're scaring me, Zat-I'm coming in. Okay?" And he did. Based on his gasp, to which he covered with both hands, I could tell he wished he didn't. On the bright side, I wasn't dead.

"Geez..." I groaned as I lifted my head a little to see Topher. He was tall... "I bet this... you know... looks odd... sorry." It was still difficult to talk. I managed to get the message across. I wanted to tell him not to be afraid or anything, but I lacked the energy. To think Vince was able to run off and hide right after this, for all I knew. It was beyond me.

"Ahhh!" I was happy to remember that voice too. It was my sister screaming in the living room. "It's really real! Celebi's real!"

I laid my head back in disgust with myself.

"No. Really. Best Monday ever."

-Pikachu.

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><p><strong><em>Post-Note: <em>**_Alright, so I'll be a little busy contemplating stuff with my other stories. Drop a review and let me know if you want Topher or Zelda next! Again, if I get nothing, I'll probably take a bit longer to update, but I'll still think of something on my own. _


	7. Case 3: Zelda Change

**CASE 3: ZELDA HUMMINGS - The Change**

_**Note: **WHOA MAN. :D This story got archived in a really neat C2! I've been looking around the community and there are some really great stories there! I'll check it out after I make schoolwork go away. I've also been getting tons of hits, some favs and alerts, and, last but not least, reviews. And man I'm happy about that. I love them reviews! Now, if you recall on the last chapter, I had an author's note at the end. It had to do with me asking you guys if I should do Topher or Zelda next. The first response I got was pointing at Zelda, and it gave some good insight as to why. The second had to do with Topher. I'd been siding towards Zelda for a while, and in doing that, I came up with a plan. So, as the title says, Zelda's the victim. Don't worry though, I'll get to Topher. He's not next however! That position is filled by Mister Zack. Upon reading this, his TF might be a little predictable. But he's a neat guy. So whew. Long note. Thanks for the reviews and everything! Really! We got a disclaimer, then I'll be out of your way._

**_Disclaimer:_**_ I don't claim possession over characters originating from the franchises of Chun Soft, Game Freak, Nintendo, and The Pokémon Company._**_ They belong to their rightful owners... Oh, and also I don't own Google or The Legend of Zelda...? ._.;  
><em>**

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><p>Oh.<p>

My.

Gosh.

So, my name is Zelda, and I'm a huge anime nerd. I have been so into Pokémon lately! That's because a new game came out and I've been super obsessed with it. I've always liked the game and the anime. Between that and my love for making songs with my brothers, I had so little time for school.

Being eleven years old, I was the youngest in the family. But I wasn't a baby! My big brothers always called me a baby and I hated it! So I once told them that I could do what they do, but better! I showed them the kind of music I wanted to make, and they accepted me as the best in the family! Um, I think. I had a lot to learn from my DJ brothers...

I'm a small girl, and I've been called cute before! I took after my mother with brown eyes and brown hair. My hair was kind of short! It was only a little longer than Zack's. I fancied heavy clothes and my favorite color was yellow. So when you put the two together, I'm like a fluffy little yellow ball. I got cold easily here in Autumnridge, even though people said this climate was fairly warm. I don't know! Maybe we kept the house colder!

But enough about me! This was the best Monday ever because Miss Topher, who's a friend of mine (he's really a boy. Can you believe that?) just came over with Zatch and brought something soooo cool! Oh my gosh. I couldn't believe my eyes. I couldn't believe anything! But it was all true! I was so excited that I wanted to parade around the town and show everyone what I had in my arms!

It was green, it was little, it was cute and it flew through time! It was a Celebi! A real Celebi! I always knew it was tricky to catch legendaries, but this was just way beyond me. It made no sense, but who was I to complain?

I think I may have hurt the Celebi a little bit though. I thought it was a doll and I poked its eye and, well, that's how I found out it was real. Nonetheless, I was happy as can be! I squeezed the adorable little Pokémon joyously. I don't know what Topher ran off to do, but I think it had something to do with my brother's shouting. Gee, I don't really know why he'd shout in the bathroom! Maybe it was a charisma thing. Or maybe it was just a Zatch thing.

I was too absorbed in the amazingness of this moment! So absorbed that I almost missed something even more uber crazy and unbelievable.

"Zelda! Kiddo, first my eye, now you're crushing the life out of me here!"

I raised my head pretty hastily, looking back and forth across and around the living room. I was being facetious because I totally knew that the voice came from right in of me. The Celebi had talked! It talked and it sounded kind of like someone I knew! I couldn't tell for sure. I let the little legendary free of my deathly grasp. It landed on the coffee table and gave a huge discontented sigh, even going as far as hanging its head and arms low.

"Oh gosh, you can talk?" I questioned pretty stupidly. I wanted to ask a whole lot of other things, but that was the only cliché thing-wait, no, there were lots of other cliché things that I could have asked... I just so happened to ask that one!

"Yeah..." The Celebi sounded a little unhappy to tell me this. It's like he wanted to hide the truth! "It's a little tough to explain, but I-"

"Ahhhh! It's real! Celebi's real!" I just couldn't contain myself any longer. It was like I had to let the whole world know about this incredible discovery! But I also wanted it all to myself. I knew I couldn't keep it, because Topher was the one who made that discovery. So wait, was Celebi Topher's? I didn't know the answer to that. Nor could I really find one. I was just sitting there, staring at the legendary Pokémon. But it was like my head was starting to spin relentlessly. I could have sworn I saw a boy about my age standing in the kitchen nearby. He was watching me. My head started hurting. I couldn't see right. I got scared...

"Hey, are you alright?" He asked. I think he was a boy. But obviously he wasn't the boy I saw, because that was a human. Oh, but the longer I sat here, the less I felt human myself. I couldn't explain it properly. It felt kind of like my brain was being talked to directly, and I assumed that's why my head hurt. No sooner did it bring me back to the Pokémon in front of me.

"I've never been better! This is so cool! Can you travel through time and talk to people from the forest?" I was leaning forward, my hands folded. I knew I probably looked so dumb smiling like a goofball, but when does anyone get the opportunity to talk to a Celebi?

"Hey." I heard that high, boyish but girlish tone that was so unmistakably Topher's. He was just solemnly standing there near the hallway, and he had this grim look on his face. It had just reoccurred to me that my brother shouted a minute ago. Was he in a really bad mood? I hoped he wasn't because he was so boring when he was grumpy. He didn't make music! Well, good music, anyways. Zatch wasn't like Zack. When Zack got too upset at stuff, he used music as an outlet for his frustration. I was trying to be more like that if I happened to get a little cranky. Topher started again. "Uhm... Something happened to Zatch. He turned into a Pikachu." I froze, eyes locked on him. How could I have questioned that with a Pokémon next to me? But how could I have believed it? My head was spinning, and stuff was just going way to fast.

"Zatch is what? My God, is he okay? I'm going to see!" Just like that, Celebi flew down the hall, Topher chasing after him... I was tempted to follow. It was like my brain told me to be wherever they were going. It was strange because that location happened to be the bathroom. I wanted to go with them, but I wasn't too prompt about it. I leaned back in the leather sofa, turning to face my backpack. You know, school suddenly seemed so little to me. I didn't mean it in a "drop everything" sort of way. I was just informed that one of my brothers turned into a Pokémon. If that was true, and for some reason I thought it really was, life was about to take a funny turn. And I wasn't about to miss out! I followed my instincts to pursue Topher and the Celebi to where it was those waves were coming from!

Wait, waves...? Yeah, that's a good name for them. Those weird invisible phone calls in my head.

So! I hopped from the sofa and rushed down the hall like a crazy girl, nearly sliding into the wall once or twice. I did bump into Zack along the way. I think Topher got him too and he was probably worried about all the commotion. I felt bad then. I should have been a little more worried, but it was hard to be all troubled when those cute little Pocket Monsters were running around in real life. At least, I hoped so. Was it so wrong of me to hope that?

"Whoa whoa whoa, Zeldster..." Before I fell, I felt one of Zack's hands gripping my arms. He had some burly hands, but that was to be expected from a big guy like my big brother. I tried to avoid colliding with him by leaning back, but I didn't, and I almost ended up falling backwards. Thanks to Zack's adept reflexes, my head's not broken! If only mom hadn't have waxed the darn floor. My growing headache would have been so much worse. "Be careful. C'mon." Without even asking where I was hurrying, he held me by the shoulder, gently pushing me ahead of himself. He had good hunches, and with this scene, his hunch was that there was no element of danger. Otherwise I would have been behind him. He looked like he was kinda calm too, so I didn't worry much. I mean Zatch turned into Pikachu. How bad was that supposed to be?

Oh my gosh, it was bad. No no no I mean good! I mean it wasn't good good, but it wasn't bad! It was true! It was so true!

There he was, being aided to his feet by the Celebi. Topher was kneeling beside the two of them as Zack and I were helplessly watching in the doorway.

"Hey dude, how do you feel?" Celebi had this strikingly awkward tone in his voice. It was like he knew my brother. Then again, it was like I knew him... His gestures were so friendly. Zatch was already standing, yet Celebi's hand was on his back for support.

"You say that like I just had an operation." Zatch retored, in good humor I think. He was taking this well, wasn't he? Or did he really know this legendary? "Ah no... Vince, l-...look at us..."

WHOA! VINCE?

"Lord have mercy, Vince. That's what happened to you? You had us all freaking worried at Metedia." Zack jumped in to assist wherever he could. Even crouching down, he was a giant among everyone else here.

"Sorry. I couldn't just show up looking like this... I hid in the woodland. I saw Zatch and Topher, and I took my chances with that, but maybe I shouldn't have."

"What do you mean?" Topher inquired.

"I think if it wasn't for me, Zatch wouldn't be a Pokémon. I think I started something in his body, and well... I'm not too good with words here because this is out of this world, man."

"This is unbelievable!" I could tell my brother was getting frustrated. The brother that couldn't make music out of frustration, I mean. "Pardon my French, Zelda, but this is bullshit! Ah-ow my head... You know, I need to lay down. Don't beat yourself up, Vince. I don't think it started at you because you turned into that before I turned into this."

"I guess..." Vince shrugged.

Gosh, I was just so dumbstruck. Awestruck. Everything-struck! This was like one of those dreams I had when I was mad at my brothers and I wanted to make them into um... Pokémon? And then make them do battles and stuff? I blinked, suddenly feeling guilty. But I also felt sick to my stomach. My poor head was pounding and it wouldn't stop. It just couldn't be satisfied. I wanted to ask a whole big bundle of questions, but I didn't say anything because I knew there was just no answer. For example, one of the questions I had was sure to come up again!

Why did Vince turn into a Celebi? And why did brother Zatch become a Pikachu? I know it sounded stupid because it was on everyone's mind here. But I wasn't focusing on that! I was looking at something deeper! Celebi's legendary, uh-huh? But Pikachu's certainly not. They're a lot easier to get! Wouldn't that work the same way here? I mean, if Pokémon do exist now? Was Vince someone really special? Oh no. What if I was gonna turn into a Pokémon?

"Oh no! Guys!" I exclaimed. I was a little shocked to get all of their attention! "What if we're all gonna turn into Pokémon? How will we live?"

"Don't worry about that." Zack tried to calm me down. Zatch was a bit antagonized because Zack was picking him up. He always hated relying on others, especially when it came to doing simple stuff. We saw it a lot when he was sick. I think even he knew that he needed a bit of help moving around now. But it looked like Vince really got the hang of it quickly. I wondered how long ago he transformed. "Maybe this is only temporary. I'd Google it, but I'd probably just get some crazy fan fiction stories about how people-yeah, never mind. C'mon, let's get you to bed bro. 'Scuse me, Zeldster." Zack squeezed by me. I didn't move, because I was still so stunned. What would you have done if your brother or sister turned into a Pokémon? I think I would have tried to catch my brother! But Pokéballs didn't exist. Yet! Oh, but what if someone tried to catch me? Zack told me I wouldn't turn into anything, but he didn't really know...

At that moment, I could feel it. I just knew I was turning into one. I was gonna be stuck like my brother for the rest of my life! Was I? Oh shoot, I was turning into a Pokémon! I had to hide!

"I'm gonna be too late!" I shouted, making a run for my bedroom...

"Crap, that girl's crazy sometimes. She thinks she's turning into one of us?"

"I'm not sure, Vince. I don't think she's hysterical. She's just a kid. She's probably more excited than anything."

"Man... I know Drew would be."

...

I closed my door and leaped for the messy bed of mine and hurriedly buried myself underneath all of the blankets! I think I had already transformed! I couldn't see now because it was too dark. But no one else saw me either. If I stayed under here for a long time, I'd be in the clear! ... ... ...But it was getting really hot. And remember how I said I got cold easily? I didn't lie or anything, but it was super hot in here. it was making me feel dizzy... And it made my head hurt... But here's what was weird. I think those wave thingies that I mentioned were finally satisfied. Did it have something to do with that boy I saw in our kitchen. That was so creepy! Was it a ghost? Whoever it was, I felt like his mind was doing something to mine. Was me massaging my brain? That was nice of him, but I didn't want to have people touching my brain. No, wait, was he telling me to do something? What did he want? I wished he would just leave me alone. But he didn't! He kept telling me to do him a favor. Not in words either. Just through my own head. What did that mean...? Did it have something to do with Celebi? How could it have? Gosh, I must have sounded like a freak! But I was turning into a little creature, right? ...My entire body was hurting now...

I heard the doorknob turn. Someone came in and started talking to me. It was Topher...

"Zelda?" His voice was soft as usual. He always sounded like he wanted to apologize about something. I was paying attention, but it was hard to. Everything just started hurting so bad. It was like I was being squeezed from all sides. There was a pillow next to me. I decided to do the same to that pillow: squeeze it so tightly. I bit it too. I did that when I was in pain. I almost cried it was so bad... Topher kept talking. "Sweetheart, you're not going to turn into a Pokémon. I know a lot of weird things have been happening. Trust me. My cousin and I had our own run-in with the meteorites. I'm sure you've heard of them...?" ...I didn't respond... I couldn't talk... "The meteorites put my cousin in a coma. They did the same thing to Vince's little brother, Drew."

Drew? Hearing that name, everything around me began to melt. I heard things like I was underwater. My body started hurting even worse. A tear rolled down my face. Another. I was crying...

Suddenly, I could hear again. Very well. So much clearer than before. But my head felt so big. I felt something kind of flimsy on top of my head in two spots. But the funny thing was this: I heard out of those! Were they ears? I couldn't tell because so much was going on. I wasn't moving, but I felt something soft keep sliding against me. It was like my clothes were coming off on their own. My nose seemed like it was closer to my face because it wasn't touching the blankets anymore, which was really whacky because, although I was still little, I knew that static electricity made your blankets stick to your skin sometimes. And I was all charged up. Why? Don't ask me! My spine tingled tenaciously. I was sitting on something attached to my back. Was it a tail? My legs felt so light. Maybe they weren't there anymore... My fingers weren't. I tried to curl them and my toes up, but all I accomplished was wriggling my hands and feet around. I didn't notice it right away. I was so soft, and so round, and so... little? My head felt as heavy as my whole body... I was still biting the pillow. With tears streaming down my face, I let up on it and fell to my side, desperate for what I couldn't call for... Help...

"...And that's just something I don't really expect you to understand, but you'll get there! ... ...Zelda?" Topher had been ignorant of my pain this whole time. He might have been facing somewhere else when talking to me. I didn't' make any noises, so I know he didn't hear me in there. He tugged at the blanket a couple times. No response was given, so he yanked the thing off of me, finding that the pillow had been holding them up. Not me. I was tiny now... It all hurt still. I didn't remember Topher saying anything. He might have, but I was about to pass out. All I remembered then was someone lifting me into their arms and taking me from my room...

We passed by a mirror. I was facing it.

I didn't see the Zelda I grew up as in the reflection...

I saw a yellow mouse with big diamond-shaped ears, light red patches on its cheeks. It was all I saw. It was all I needed.

That little Pichu in the mirror was me.

The rest was blank.

Except for Drew...

-Pichu

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><p><em><strong>Post-Note-Thing: <strong>More of a cutesy-sad TF. But a sad element exists in a lot of TFs, and so does a cute one. Or something. Anyway, Zack's next. After Zack, I won't introduce a new character. Rather, it'll be a chapter where they try to figure a few things out, most likely from Vince's perspective. And then after that, we'll move on to some of Cruce and Topher's friends. Again though, thanks for the reviews and all. I'm really happy (Maybe a little overjoyed) to see Wave in a C2! _

_**Kingdom Hearts PMD: Crossblade** is the next story to be updated._


	8. Case 4: Zack Futile Resistance

**CASE 4: DJ ZACK HUMMINGS - Resistance is Futile**

_**Note: **Hm. I got about halfway through the next chapter of my other fan fiction before feeling urged to continue this one. I had some predictable ideas for this chapter. But it's only really the beginning of the story. I want to hurry along so I can get to some more exotic TFs. And although I do enjoy bouncing back and forth between stories to change it up every now and then, I'm thinking of sticking with Endemic for a while. One, it's the first in the timeline. Two, it's my flavor of the month. Three, it's getting attention. And four, with respect to three, I'm becoming more motivated... ("MNESIA. :C WHY DOESN'T IT SAY 'DJ ZELDA HUMMINGS' ON HER CHAPTER?") ...Sorry...  
><em>

**_Disclaimer:_**_ I don't claim possession over characters originating from the franchises of Chun Soft, Game Freak, Nintendo, and The Pokémon Company._**_ They belong to their rightful owners._**

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><p>I'm Zack Hummings.<p>

I've always been a dedicated student and a music lover. My talents in the subject are pretty prominent in the fields of vocals and mixing. I've enjoyed guitar as well, but I was never as enthusiastic about it as I was in my short yet continuous career as a DJ Brother. It was an interesting family experience now. My brother and sister, both younger than I, joined and proved capable of making some really fantastic stuff. We had much to learn from each other, and outside influences. I had hope for our 3-DJ project. It may have intervened with school a few times, and trust me, it was pretty difficult maintaining an awesome GPA while being the head of the guitar club at school. I was frequently occupied, but that felt pretty nice. I'd hoped that I'd become at least partially productive in my later years of high school. My goal was to have no regrets, but I was demonstrated how that was nearly impossible.

Excuse me for sounding like a pessimist.

You might have guessed that I was on the football team. Well, I was prior to my Junior year. That's another story. The reason I started with the football thing was because of my size. I was six foot five with broad shoulders, a hefty build, and a, admittedly, I was more upper body strength than lower. That wasn't to say I was a pushover when it came to leg exercises. My little sister Zelda-I called her Zeldster-enjoyed poking fun at my long hair. I was a little dismissive at that because, while she said it made me look girly, it was irrefutably popular with the girls at school. I might have been lucky with looks like these. Of course I might have also been an arrogant bastard. I'm sure the latter was true.

I wasn't the most excitable person. I've been called charismatic before. Maybe all of that emotion and passion was encased in my love for music. I loved to take initiative and keep my head about things. Combined with my personality, I found it a good combination for those tense situations...

...

But this.

This was fucking out of my control.

I didn't know how you couldn't be dumbfounded by this kind of thing. My brother and his best friend had turned into, of all things, Pokémon!

Now, let's back up.

I was one of those unnatural weird guys who found reading interesting. There was a phase I went through that involved my perusal of fan-made works online and I happened to come across some really strange works called TF stories, or whatever. Most of them were about the game Zelda has been addicted to. I'll admit. I was curious. I clicked the link to one of these stories and had myself an okay read.

Why is this relevant?

Dammit, it was unfolding before my eyes. Here. In the real world.

My brother transformed into a Pikachu on the bathroom floor. I couldn't remember the name of what his friend Vince had become. It was green with a curved spike atop its head, antennae, and clear wings. It looked like a hybrid bug, fairy, and had a plant aspect to it. Or "him", I should have said. It felt rude to give them gender neutral pronouns. But that had to be the last thing on their minds. To not be human with a human mind... Well, while I was human, I was intent on finding out why my close friends were suffering this transformation. Who was next? That was something I couldn't foresee, but I could not describe how much I had wanted to do so.

Crouching in front of my electric rat of a brother following the discovery that Vince was the green Pokémon, I offered to take him to his bedroom so that he could rest. He was stubborn, which I had reason to believe was Vince's nature rubbing off on him. From what I've read, and what luck it was to have read about this, I recalled transformations, in most cases, exhausting the body. You had to be pretty clueless to think that my brother was not worn out from this shape shift. His breathing was different and his heart rate was up. I saw from the look on his face, even as a Pikachu, that he didn't really want me touching his chest to feel his heartbeat. Where else was I going to obtain it easily? His palms were too small, and the body fat around his neck flowed more into his back than a human's.

"Zatch," I started. I usually called him Zatchers, as I felt it was fair enough giving a nickname to my brother as well. I didn't use it in times like these... Let me restate that. I didn't use it in tense moments. "You need to lay down and take it easy."

"He's right." Vince agreed, which felt as good as it did odd. For one, he had been through this exact thing. That was the odd part. The other half was his experience with cross-country. He was no stranger to how exhaustion worked. "My whole body felt like jelly after I changed. My wings felt fine because they're a new uh... attachment." He fluttered them briefly, glancing over his shoulder. "So I flew to cover. But you need to get some rest, and probably water."

"Oogh, fine." My brother finally relented. He allowed me to scoop him into my arms. It was the sort of thing that seemed stranger if he were a human at the time. It might have appeared suggestive... With Topher around, I had to clear something up: I was in no way homophobic. I did have a girlfriend. Her father was a lieutenant of the police force around here, and the only reason I made a note about that was because of the investigation in the woodland which he was surely a part of... Zelda gave a nice holler, by the way.

"Oh no. Guys!" She exclaimed. I wasn't sure how she managed to get everyone's attention in the cramped room. "What if we're all gonna turn into Pokémon? How will we live?"

"Don't worry about that." I assured her. Well, I wasn't assured myself. I was simply being the adult and telling her not to worry. I didn't know at the time if it worked. (It didn't matter in the end). "Maybe this is only temporary. I'd Google it, but I'd probably just get some crazy fan fiction stories about how people-yeah, never mind. C'mon, let's get you to bed bro. 'Scuse me, Zeldster." As I rose, I moved passed my excited little sister. This had to be a treat for her. Her mind was younger than her body, I tell you. As unreal as this all looked, the urgency felt natural. It felt like my brother had received a terrible gash in the scalp or broke his arm. He wasn't injured, for all I knew, however.

I turned the corner in the hall, cradling Zatch carefully. I had asked if he cared to be tucked in or not. He declined with a shake of his head. In his bedroom, I hadn't realized Vince had followed me. He was walking briskly, and his new incredibly lightweight body nullified his footsteps. As I set Zatch down, my head began spinning. Maybe I had too much coffee this morning? I dismissed it as a slight caffeine headache. Which didn't make sense. I had long since removed that from my body via something called the toilet. I hoped I didn't need to revisit the toilet to perhaps vomit. I felt nauseous...

"Alright little bro. Try not to do anything reckless. I'll get some water. Can you watch him Vince?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Wait, Zack!" Zatch, laying on his back with his bolt-shaped tail out at one side, reached for me dramatically. Was he doing that on purpose? He made it look good, I'd say. "You're not going to tell Laura's dad about this, right...? 'Cause I-"

"I won't. What are the police going to do?"

"Nothin' but transport us to Area 51 as aliens." Vince remarked. That sounded a lot like him. I couldn't tell you why that was so comforting.

"I feel better already." Zatch said sarcastically. He closed his eyes, head all the way back. "Where's Topher?"

"I think he went to Zelda's room to check on her. I'll be right back." I left the bedroom to the two Pokémon, walking with the occasional jog step. Though, I was hindered by something. I stopped right before Zelda's room, a palm against the wall. There were two forces at play. There were these trails of invisible light that my blurring vision could make out as a color that I've never seen in my life. My head pulsed. My body throbbed as though my organs and bones were bouncing off of the inner wall of my skin. I wretched silently, my other hand now pressed tightly against my lips. I shut my eyes. It was a burst of excruciating pain... It gradually became worse. I heard Topher's voice in Zelda's room. He was talking about something with relevance to the meteorites. I heard the name of Vince's brother. I swallowed spit and look ahead. Drew was there. He was avoiding me. He left for the kitchen. I refused to pursue, even though it set fire to my head. I took deep breaths, attempting to extinguish this peculiar flame inside of my mind...

It died down.

I couldn't remember how long I'd been trying to get myself together, or why for that matter. I recalled Topher in front of me right after the episode. In his arms was a creature that looked like the new Zatch. It looked like a Pikachu, but it was smaller. Dread struck me like a stone. I had a feeling in my twisting guts that it was Zelda. She was right. We're all going to suffer this. Saying nothing, I hurried past Topher, prepared to confront the Drew entity. It was like he was mocking us. I wasn't about to take that, because I knew in my heart he was the one doing this. I didn't question my resolve.

"Drew!" I yelled, startling even myself. I tightened my hands into fists when I failed to spot him in the house with me. I saw him come here. I felt him move... I was officially spooked. Shaking the thought with an equally shaken state of mind, I snatched a plastic cup from the cupboard, constantly look over both shoulders for any sign of the poltergeist in here... I held the cup against the refrigerator's water lever, tormented by the simple things such as the sound of the water's pitch rising as it filled the cup... As it filled, an unearthly sound whispered menacingly enough to send a shiver down my aching spine. I couldn't hear it very well. But I had a hunch it was him... I was in his world now... I think that's even what he said.

"No. No, Drew..." I spun around, careful not to dump water all over the floor. "I know it's you. I'm not a dumbass. You're changing them. You're doing this to them. Knock it off." I demanded, which I gathered he didn't take too well. There was another eerie whisper, this one more fierce. It had dawned on me how unrealistic all of this was. Was I honestly arguing with the ghost of a kid who turned people into Pokémon? How insane was he? How insane was I? What the hell was going on? ...I backed away from the kitchen, my teeth clenching against each other. This was all too real. "I'm not playing your game..."

I was already within a game.

My chest tightened. My heart skipped beats until it froze entirely. I gripped that spot tightly. It was not hysteria. This pain, this contortion of my body was too real. The hand holding the cup of water darkened. Both of my hands were darkening. They were stinging, and I saw why. My body began producing a light fuzz, which was the source of the recoloring around my hands. It seemed like the rest of my body was becoming more of an illuminant orange. The pain was incredible as the shape of my fingers merged into one another, ultimately making me drop the cup. Water emptied from it as it rolled across the floor. I lost my balance and tipped to the side foolishly. The room was spinning. Ten images of the room were spinning to me. I oriented myself to my back, unable to beg for this horror to stop. I was giving it my all to resist, though gave up when something came upon me; an epiphany which told me of my own oncoming demise. My death. I couldn't resist this agony. I had to let it take me.

And it progressed. My ears seemed to drag up my head, elongating into some odd curvy V shape with a string-like tip. The next part was the most painful of all. My shape so forcefully expanded that it tore through my clothes. My T-shirt was easily undone, but my jeans resisted as I had done a moment ago. The denim material eventually did give way to my larger hips, as did my socks to my growing feet. But I was shrinking... The dimensions of my body were rearranging, so to speak. Not that I could. Something poke from my back. I was able to control it. It felt like a rope with a paper weight on the end. Out of the corner of my eyes, which were also transmogrifying, I saw that the rope was mine-a tail-with a lightning bolt attached. My hands were not hands. My feet were not feet. They were brown paws. The rest of me was light orange, aside from the brown stripes on my back. I couldn't really see those... I guess there was some white on my underbelly, and yellow circles at my cheeks. For me, the senses were overwhelming right at the get go. My new nose and ears forced me to identify objects to a degree I wasn't used to. Luckily I had the pain to distract me.

I just existed here... On Earth. But I wasn't a human. I was something else, my abnormal body sprawled out on this cold wet tile. I felt like a freakin' ball... How fast had this happened...? Did anyone hear my shouts? Did I shout? I yelled Drew's name.

No one should have been through this. To have your body completely rearrange at that speed was like being mutilated and reconfigured. 'S probably what it was. Just fucking unreal... Ah, my head still ached.

-Raichu.

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><p><em><strong>Words that come after the chapter or something: <strong>Yeah, back to back updates. Coming up next is not a TF. We're gonna watch them try to get organized and develop a plan on keeping low. As for the change in this chapter, maybe that was a bit -too- predictable. ._.; And you might be going, "Wait, Zack's only like two years older than Zatch. Why's that translate into Raichu instead of a taller Pikachu? :( " I dunno. I felt like doing it? Heh, I promise to show some less seen TFs in the future. Like four Eevees. Nah, I'm kidding. Shiny Eevees. (Kidding again. -_-;) ... _

_Can't help but point out that this is kind of a very subtle conversation coming from reviews. xD Yep. Thank you guys for bringing this story to life a little more with reviews and the whole C2 thing and whatnot. Makes me inspired to write more crap. Better crap, hopefully. Next chapter will be up pretty soon again.  
><em>


	9. Vince's Choice

**VINCE'S CHOICE**

**_Note: _**_All I can say is holy crap I am sorry. I've been busy. That's all there really is to it. That plus a hiatus doesn't really equal updates. I'm not sure how many more I'll do after this. Right now, school's approaching the final stretch, and I'm kinda in that determined mindset. That and I'm just really busy around the house. Likewise I haven't been able to think properly when it comes to writing. Hopefully it will suffice. _

**_Disclaimer:_**_ I don't claim possession over characters originating from the franchises of Chun Soft, Game Freak, Nintendo, and The Pokémon Company._**_ They belong to their rightful owners._**

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><p>I was hesitant to go and check on Zack. It sounded like he had gotten into a scuffle with... my brother? I needed to wait by Zatch's side. I needed to be with Zelda, too. She just transformed into something like Zatch. Topher brought her in, and I knew right away who it was. Well, duh, who wouldn't have? Zack seemed pretty irrepressible in that he wasn't about to let himself turn into a Pokémon. Not that he had any control over it. If I had it my way, I'd rather have my old body back. There was no receipt for that. No take backs. This was my body. It was annoying to think that this was all being shot right at us. We had no say. We were at the mercy of an unknown ordeal. We were being launched into a children's game...<p>

Come to think of it...

It almost made sense, then, how Zack suspected something of Drew, 'cause he did like Pokémon quite a lot... I saw my little brother before my transformation. Maybe Zatch and Zelda did too. So Zack's freakout over there means that he must've seen Dr-.

My thoughts were interrupted by abrupt actions of mine once again. Zatch sat up, now far more worried about Zelda than himself. I hopped from the bed, as I was sitting next to Zatch to make sure he wouldn't try to get up, which he did, but I had no time to dwell on that. I took to the air. Again, wind or no wind, my wings held me up very nicely. That was a benefit to this little form. I knew there was hidden potential within me. But, shoot, I didn't know how to use abilities. I didn't even play the damn game. And even then, I don't think it taught _you_ how to be a Pokémon.

I found Zack... I think... on the kitchen floor, already trying to control his breathing. I knew what he had turned into. He was a Raichu. It was easy to figure out. First of all, who didn't know Pikachu? Who, then, didn't know Raichu? That was pompous talk for me though. I wasn't able to determine what Zelda had morphed into. I recalled seeing it somewhere. Poor Zack though. The guy had just told his little sister that everything was going to be alright. Was it? No! Almost everyone under this roof was a Pokémon.

"Zack! Zack, say something!" I cried, landing beside him and nudging at his back with my hand, or whatever it was called now. As a reply, he groaned with a grimace. "That's not what I meant!"

"Your voice is so loud..." He coughed weakly. He sounded different, but it didn't matter. He was still able to talk, and so soon after his conversion. I had trouble with speaking right away, and I'm sure Zatch did also.

"You're a Raichu..." I dumbly announced. What else was I supposed to say? I couldn't help him up right after this. I couldn't pick him up either. He was still a pretty big guy.

"Ah, hell..." He took deeper breath. "This is... happening."

"Nah, it already happened man. I'm sorry." My head fell under the weight of our combined problems. I sighed, blowing the air from one side of my mouth. "It's like I should never have left the woodland."

"Hey, stop. Here, give me a hand." He lifted a brown-tipped paw pretty helplessly. I hovered and grabbed that paw with both of mine (paws or hands. Again, hard to tell) and hoisted him up. He didn't stand, but he sat up as Zatch did, leaning his head to one side a tad and rubbing at it. "Guh... I feel all messed up inside."

"'Might be the electricity. Give it some time, and you'll get used to it pretty fast. Not saying I had that in me, but it's a guess." I continued to float beside him, my arms now crossed. I remained vigilant, surveying the area. "You saw Drew."

"You know?" He kept rubbing the side of his face, but watched me with one eye closed and the other open.

"'Not too sure how, but yeah. I know. He came to me too. Right before it happened. Erm... This... " I dropped my arms and, once more, lowered my head, though only gesturing at my body.

"Yeah it sounds like I'm out of my mind, but I think Drew's doing this to us."

I didn't respond right away. I allowed that to seep into my own mind. As much as I hated the idea of my innocent little brother somehow making use of a paranormal plane to cause paranormal occurrences. Essentially, he was making us pretty miserable all for his enjoyment, and I didn't want to believe that. It gave me heartache right there. I denied a few of these unproven points. He didn't want to do this. Maybe he had to do it. Maybe someone else was behind this? I just didn't want it to be my brother. He loved me. I loved him. Why'd he take the trouble to cause this suffering? These changes? No matter how optimistic you were, you couldn't say that this was meant to be. Because none of it was "working". It was all nonsensical. Unorthodox. Beyond the understanding of anything on this planet... Drew...

"I saw Drew in the woodland before I changed. I thought maybe I could wait it out and I'll revert into a human. Maybe he was playing with me..." I paused, shutting my eyes and picturing the woods. "Zatch came along. Then he changes. Then Zelda changes. Then you change. Back to back to back."

"I saw Zelda, yeah. I got pissed over that. I hate to blame your brother, dude, but this is out of control. Everyone in here's gonna change..."

"...What about Topher?" I think both of us blanked out then and there. Topher had been with Zatch from the start. He withstood these spiritual-mental forces. The transformations seemed like they were lightning flashes striking targets, no pun intended, and Topher was completely unhindered and unaffected but surely apprehensive.

"You know," The newly changed Raichu began, strain in his voice as he tried to stretch his back in both directions. "We need to ask that guy a few questions. He's been really quiet. I know Cruce got knocked out by the meteorite too, but I've had enough paranoia for one day."

"No, I hear you. That raises a good point. Cruce is going through the same thing Drew is, I'd imagine." I shrugged, crossing my arms again. "That's gotta be affecting something somewhere."

"Let's not waste time then." Zack grunted, clearly giving a good effort in standing on those long feet. "This is freaking weird. 'S like I'm hunched but I can't stand any hi-yeah never mind."

"Wow. You sure you're good?" I was pleasantly astonished to see him coming through this quickly. Maybe muscle had a role in this? It wasn't likely, I don't think. His body has completely morphed. Unless muscles were somehow preserved, I doubted it.

"Nope. C'mon." To my amazement, he actually led the way, albeit clumsily. He didn't teeter from side to side, but walking froward looked like a challenge. I silently praised my wings. They were so simple to manage and unquestionably amusing. I asked Zack if he was alright to lead on like that, but he dismissed it. I understood that this whole ordeal was a tad embarrassing. After all, each of us were probably cuter than we'd ever ask to be. Maybe not Zelda. But it did sort of bring up an ironic twist on how Topher was usually the one getting all the adoration and ranting on about anything cute. I knew he was still down about Cruce, like I'd mentioned a moment ago, but there was no doubt in my mind that he thought Zatch and I were both adorable. So yeah, it was a little embarrassing.

We returned to Zatch's room to find that Zelda was coming to. She was curiously looking up at Topher, who had taken the liberty of watching her in his arms. Zatch looked like he was doing better also. That led me to the conclusion that the aftermath of a transformation was painful and awkward for a short time, which, then led me to a state of marvel. Our bodies were that prompt to adapt to physical conversion of sorts? It was fascinating, to say the least. Especially with the inclusion of powers natural to Pokémon...

"Bro? BRO!" Zatch called out, an arm directed at Zack. "Ahhhh, not you too! ...My mind is too far blown to continue." He fell back, laying flat with both arms out.

"We're all in the Pikachu family?" Zelda asked, facing out at us. "So Mom and Dad will be Raichus like Zack? But why is Vince a legendary?"

"...Hm... I think we had best listen to what Zelda has to say. Out of all of us, she has the best knowledge of Pokémon. After that, we have a few questions for Topher." Zack explained exactly what I was about to say. Since I could not have said it better myself, I kept my mouth quiet, anticipating what their little sister had to make of the situation. It was very true that she knew Pokémon well, and what luck. She already identified a pattern. Plus she called me a legendary, which might have been flattering in any other situation.

"Uhm..." Topher blinked, saying nothing more. That alone told me he really wasn't scheming. He was watching this all occur before his eyes as an innocent—very innocent—bystander. But that didn't excuse the fact that he was still a human. And these transformations felt tied together. They seemed to spread.

"I turned into a Pichu." She started, answering one of about a hundred of my questions. "Zatch is a Pikachu, and Zack's a Raichu. So we're all in the same line thingy! It's weird 'cause Vince is a Celebi, who's a legendary Pokémon..."

"What's that mean though?" Zatch asked a tad impatiently.

"It means... um... He's super special and super rare. And he has some cool powers! Celebi can travel through time!"

I was struck speechless, of course. Travel through time...? I certainly felt like I couldn't do any such thing.

"Vince can time travel?" Topher exclaimed. "How can he do that?"

"I don't know." Zelda started again, shrugging her tiny shoulders. "Maybe it's just like how we can use electricity."

"Maybe..." Zack began, most likely eager to hear from Topher, which could be identified in his new recipient of attention. "We've already got a jump on the pattern of how this happening. We don't know what's going on though... Topher, shouldn't you have turned into a Pokémon by now?"

"Uhm, I-I don't know. Probably. I don't know why I'm not one yet..."

"Maybe it only effects certain people." I spoke, heavily vexed over the idea that my brother was very possibly behind the transformations. "We'll need to figure all this out some other time. Right now, we kind of need to think of how to deal with your parents when they get here, guys. I'm not just saying that we need to hide, but if you look back at what's happened in the past few moments, I'm pretty sure your mom and dad will also be affected by this." I motioned to my body, while, of course, referring to the Pikachu family. It did make me wonder who else was predetermined to become a legendary Pokémon, if that was how it worked at all.

"Vince has a point." Zack agreed, looking to the carpet. "School's out of the question, but Mom and Dad are going to be here soon. Honestly, I don't think there's any other way around it. We might have to-" He was interrupted by a fairly aggressive pounding at the front door, which was left unlocked. "Holy crap. Topher." He didn't have to say anything more for me to have known what he was implying, and neither did Topher, who stood up promptly and set Zelda down on the chair.

"Okay." He spoke softly. I offered to tag along behind him and listen closely in case there might have been trouble. We both understood forceful knocking was a little intimidating, but there was not much to be worried about in Autumnridge with respect to crime... With Zack, Zelda, and Zatch agreeing to stay behind and hide. I kept quiet in the hall, standing with my back against the cold wall. The door was opened. I could hear the sound of a dog collar clanking around. That was certainly not good news. The presence of a dog suggested there was a search, and that search was undoubtedly targeted at me. Was the officer's dog capable of tracking my scent as far as transformation goes? If I was honest, I didn't think I smelt the same. However, I was covered in my clothes at one point through all of this... I heard the officer's voice. I'm not even sure how I knew it was truly an authority. Something told me...

The voice belonged to someone I think I knew.

"Topher? Well I couldn't forget your face, of course." The voice sounded authoritative, as it was supposed to. It belonged to Al's father, Lieutenant Sanders.

"Oh! Mr. Sanders!" Topher spoke his name. It didn't surprise me that this man was known throughout Autumnridge. He was probably one of the most predominant reasons why this place seldom saw crime. He was incredibly intelligent, not to mention very skilled when it came to memorizing faces. Then again, Topher was easy to remember. "H-how can I help you? Are you looking for somebody?" Topher faced upward at the man, gently petting the German Shepard; the lieutenant's canine partner in crime.

"I am, actually. See..." He paused, focusing on the hound as well. "He led us here in search for Vince Maire. I'm sure you know him? He was reported to have gone missing in the woodland." Topher did not have time to respond to Mr. Sanders. The canine's nose was on the doorstep. His leg moved forward, and he practically led the officer into the house. Topher opted to move a second before this. "Easy, easy." He commanded, though with a lack of a dominant voice. This told me he encouraged this behavior. It was nice and all to see man and man's best friend working together, but under the circumstances I felt endangered. I also felt tempted to return to Zatch's room. That was logical, however inconsiderate. If I was to be discovered, I was not about to allow my friends to share in this. However, was that inevitable already? Allegedly that failed to be of significance in the meantime. The German Shepard's cold, wet nose was sniffing at the back of my head...

"Eta!" The man called out. If I recalled correctly, that was the name of the dog. He sat obediently just as I faced the officer, looking far up at him. When I wasn't in midair, it really never failed to surprise me how small I was now. "What on Earth...?"

I felt my shoulders rise in a very slow shrug as I shrunk away from him. I could tell by the confused looks Eta was giving him that the dog knew who I was. So, I underestimated the magnificent ability of a hound's nose.

"Vince?" The officer crouched, and eyebrow raised into his wrinkled forehead. He was a frightening man, and fairly cynical from what I have heard. "You know Eta doesn't lie."

"You're right..." I confessed, wings still as they have ever been. My head drooped forward a little. "It's Vince, sir."

"What did this to you?"

"My guess is as good as yours, sir." I shrugged with the lie. My guess was better, likewise worse. I was incapable of emphasizing how much I hated the idea of Drew being the suspect. I lifted my head, now aware of Topher behind the man with a clear frown upon his face.

"Something tells me otherwise." He saw through my feigned ignorance. Though I saw through the fact that he suspected nothing of my brother.

"Yes, um, it might have something to do with the meteorites." I responded. That much I knew for sure. Before the presence of the meteorites, this was mere fantasy.

"Then that's our only lead. Well, it's been a pleasure searching for you. Good to see you're... Well... Good to see you." What a strange man. He extended an arm for me to shake his hand. I obliged happily. Was this all that was going to happen? Were they just intent on searching for us? That was too good to be true. He was about to do something. He was about to say something... Something bad.

I was dumbstruck. Had we just made physical contact...?

"So Topher." The lieutenant stood, without turning to face Topher. "Anything else you and Zatch have decided to hide from authorities?"

I heard Topher gasps silently.

"S-sir, how do you know we were in the woodland?" All I thought at that moment was the word no. That was the worst response he could have made.

"I didn't. Now I do. I heard from my son that you two were off to do something in regards to the meteorite. I was not surprised when Eta led me here. Where is Zatch?"

"Zatch is here, sir. The only reason we wanted to stay away is because of how outlandish this is... I mean look at Vince." Topher gestured one of his open hands at me. "It's very difficult for them, sir. We're sorry for the inconvenience. I'll show you to Zatch." He began walking down the hallway. There was something very admirable in that boy. He was very mature for his age, not to mention very calculating and farsighted in this situation. He was more like his cousin than he thought. And upon looking at the two side by side, you would have received a headache right there. Although there's one thing he might have slipped up on in his apology. It was about to matter much less anyhow.

"You're a sincere boy, but... 'them'? Is Vince not the only victim of this?"

"He's not." Topher shook his head, leading the cop to the bedroom. His canine fellow followed loyally. Perhaps Cruce's cousin made the wisest possible move in this scene. However, it disturbed me deeply that the lieutenant was so unperturbed by my appearance. While he was startled, something felt off about it. Insidious, rather. Did he know something that I did not? No! How could he have? ...D-do they know more about what happened to Drew? My little brother... What Zack said... Could that have really been true? And what about Cruce? ...I needed to return to the hospital. But how was I to remain hidden in such a populous area? I had been seen by officer Sanders. There was not a doubt in my mind that the whole world was about to know about the existence of Pokémon who were formerly humans...

I had to make a choice...

Was it better to stay with my fellow Pokémon friends?

Or was it better to seek out answers...? ...To seek out Drew and Cruce?

Either way, I have a sinking feeling that I will not see the end of these transformations for some time.

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><p><strong><em>Post-Note<em>**_: Yep, that's just like the chapter before Zelda's case. It can go either way. The last time I asked for choices_, _it was quite adventurous! Either way, there's gonna be a TF in the next chapter. Sorry about that by the way. No TF here because of some more storyline development. Anyway, the choice is: Should he stay or should he go? _


	10. Proper Sanity

**__PROPER SANITY  
><strong>

**_Note: _**_Heya everyone. I'm back! Right after school got out, I went on a musical adventure. If you're interested, check out my SoundCloud page. I'm Mnesia there as well. Just some fun stuff that I decided to do in place of writing, and even that was literature. Anywho, that long journey is coming to a close, leaving me with both Wave and Liquid Starlight. I appreciate the reviews, and will continue to work for more. For the time being, enjoy the madness~.  
><em>

**_Disclaimer:_**_ I don't claim possession over characters originating from the franchises of Chun Soft, Game Freak, Nintendo, and The Pokémon Company._**_ They belong to their rightful owners._**

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><p>I have decided it would be best to remain here.<p>

Who would I be if I were to abandon my friends on a day like this? My father taught me, or ranted on rather, about the morals of a man. Though, I did not appear to be a man in any way at this time. Whatever the case, I had to stand by my friends. They've transformed into Pokémon like me. Unlike me—and I've learned this from Zelda—I have turned into what is called a legendary Pokémon; a Celebi. I'm intent on asking her more about what I am capable of, but for the time being, there are more important matters to be trifling us. If Lieutenant Sanders was going to spread the news of these transformations, the four of us were about to receive some fairly dramatic notoriety. Maybe that could be considered a good thing if our species had not just switched.

A bit nervous to be using my wings at the moment, I simply walked back into Zatch's bedroom. The three DJs of the Pikachu family were sitting side by side on the bed, Topher having returned to his place on the desk chair. The officer was near the doorway when I entered, his German Shepard quite entranced at the three electric mice. I mulled briefly over what might have been going on inside of Eta's head. Eta, being the lieutenant's dog, probably couldn't fathom how any of this happened. Looking at it from a canine's perspective, he was tracking a human who turned out to be me. Well, I am not a human...

"This is unlike anything I've seen. You're saying that you three have become Pokémon?" Mr. Sanders inquired first.

"Four of us, if you include Vince there." Zatch spoke, rubbing the back of his head and pointing at me.

"And this is connected to three meteorites?" The officer replied. I decided to pitch in to the conversation.

"Drew only slipped into a coma because of that meteorite." I began, starting to go off on a tangent. "And the four of us who have been affected by this had some sort of delirious encounter with him."

"Hang on. I didn't know Drew had anything to do with this. Where is he now?" The lieutenant stood with one arm across his chest, the other stroking his short goatee.

"He's at the hospital on Barrel Street. I think he was being examined for something like a second brain..."

There was little a response to this. Lieutenant Sanders' only reply was the movement of his hand over his mouth as he attempted to make sense of my comment. I could tell everyone else was doing the same. I was not particularly sure of how or why I was able to analyze the thoughts of everyone in the room... It may have had something to do with my abilities as a Celebi. On another note, this was the first time I have explained to anyone what I've previously heard from the doctor. Many of my friends likely knew from the weekend interview that Drew was in a coma. The details of the interview were ephemeral. There was no possible way to know what the diagnosis on my little brother was unless you were directly involved with the meteorite.

"You may not have heard," The officer began, placing his hand on Eta's head. "That building is reported to be seeing signs of paranormal activity today... You may have given me the connection, Vince." His tone of voice was staggering to all of us. I had been hasty in my words, but how could Drew be the main connection to the hospital's problems? It was a hospital. I would think they of all places have a tendency to be haunted... Once again, denial was overtaking my sense of rationality. Sanders was assuming Drew was behind this phenomena. I understood that the hospital was a priority case. There were patients who need to be treated. I believed that should hold true for my little brother. The last thing I wanted was for him to be examined in any way by the authorities here. Maybe I was too enthralled with the media circus, but paranoia kept telling me they'd perform some autopsy on him...

And then what? We'd turn back into humans? This wasn't some enchanted cursed or whatever. We didn't belong to a storybook for little kids... But who was I to make assumptions...?

"I'll be going now. I want you kids to stay inside and call 911 if you have any trouble." The officer gave a momentary chuckle. "I'm not sure how much help we can be to Pokémon, which is why it'd be best if you kept out of trouble. You know as well as all of us that this goes beyond what law enforcement can do. For now. Take care. We'll call or return to this residence if we happen to discover anything helpful."

And that was that. We watched silently as the man gave his prompt goodbye. I knew he was in a rush to be somewhere. What I did not like one bit was his almost inhuman lack of astonish. What would you think if aliens arrived on Earth? What would you then think if humans turned into aliens? What, then, would you even think when humans turned into monsters from a childhood game?

And what if it was you...? You wake up one day to find that you have transformed into a Pokémon...

Eerie, awkward silence overtook the mood. This was not the type of silence which generated from an environment like the first day of high school where the teacher asks if anyone has the answer. It wasn't from some newly formed club on campus where no one had any idea of how to make things work. I could tell that no one in this room had anything to say. As I heard the front door close, I finally came to grips with something that gave me comfort. We were alone again. Alone together.

"What're we going to do?" Zelda broke the silence with this blameless question.

"Welp. I know what I need to do." Zatch said, hopping from the bed, strengthening the emphasis on just how unnaturally small we were as opposed to humans, with the exception of Zack, who was still fairly small... Well, I was inclined to understand what it was that Zatch was going to do. "You're all free to join me!"

"So I guess that means you aren't going to the bathroom?" I remarked, already walking by his side as he started down the hallway.

"Tch." He scoffed. "Thanks for joining me in there earlier."

"Sure. I think you should stay away from beans though. They really screw up your system."

"Beans don't turn you into Pikachu."

"I'd like to meet those beans..." I heard Zack speak from behind us, which made it pretty obvious where we were headed. But it dawned on me how peculiar this was about to become. Was I really about to see 3-DJ in action? As Pokémon?

"You can't meet beans!" That was Zelda's voice. So either we were about to watch TV in the living room, or...

"I beg to differ!" Zack argued, probably taunting his sister at this point.

"Beans aren't people." Zatch retorted, joining in on this harmless badinage. At the same time, he pushed open the soundproof door to the small house studio near the living room. So I really was about to see the Pikachu family make music. Strange day. He held the door open for us. Topher was the last one to walk through. I wasn't sure where to sit or stand exactly, though there was plenty of room, given our petite size. That posed a problem for the electronics which 3-DJ used. They were a bit too short to reach the machines...

"You guys, this talk of beans is making me hungry." Zack said, a paw over his belly.

"Dude, we should get pizza. I've got money." Zatch replied.

I couldn't keep track of how long Topher and I sat and listened to these three musical prodigies work their melodic magic, despite their new body shape. And, yes, we did manage to have pizza delivered without being too obnoxious with respect to our appearances. Topher handled the exchange. Might I point out briefly that pizza tasted far less delicious. My theory on this was that our, or at least, my taste buds have been altered in some way that, in essence, ruins the combination of cheese, sauce, bread, and pepperonis all in one. Well, maybe I was over-analyzing things, but I had always been a logical thinker. Hence, mathematics weren't too problematic in school... I sincerely did mull over school as I was being serenaded with the Hummings tunes... This was the strangest party, if it could be called that, I've been to. I'm privileged to be in the presence of friends who dismissed their problems rather than dwelling on them. That is saying our problems cannot be solved. Which... well... Let's just say I'm open to suggestions. Anything is better than being tormented over helplessness.

Following my concern with school came a slight concern for the officer. What was it that occurred at the hospital. Had it anything to do with Drew? Was Sanders... infected? Topher, too?

It had not struck me how long we were listening to the new ambient sounds of 3-DJ. Such flowing melodies and rhythms created a mesmerizing atmosphere. Call it an excuse, but it made me less aware of what was happening in the house. I was sure the same could have been said for Topher, as Mrs. Hummings—Andrea was her name—promptly opened the glass door to the soundproof room. I was sure that any typical lady would have screamed at the sight of giant yellow rats. Andrea Hummings was not an easily frightened woman. That stated, her reaction to each of us, save Topher, was actually fairly silly.

"Mm. Well, you kids must have put something in my coffee this morning." She said. I was amazed that she knew who the three were right away. Unless she was hysterical. Either way, kudos to her for not flipping out.

"Mom! Ehm-" Zatch panicked, lowering his master volume slider. Zelda had the most trouble with this, resulting in a discordant, out of place tune. "Mom, 'sup? I uh-we-you're home early! Yeah!"

"...Zatch...?" With her head turned away a tad, Andrea frowned at the sight of her own children.

"Mom, you won't freak out at us, will you?" Zack asked. He had a jocular attitude here. That alone meant he was being sarcastic. Zelda did not look as convinced that her mother would accept her.

"What are Mom and Daddy going to do to us?" Zelda inquired as though reality had finally dawned on her.

"Baby..." Andrea began, approaching her daughter. I was still speechless at her ability to recognize her children so quickly. A mother's intuition, perhaps. I sat still as I watched her pick up Zelda... "You should know that I wouldn't ever think differently of you because you turned into cute little mice. You're my kids! I love you no matter what you look like... I'm glad Lieutenant Sanders had the courtesy of dropping in to tell me before I got home."

"He told you? Man, he's a multitasker. Good guy." Zack rubbed the side of his head before speaking again. "'Guess I don't need to feel so worried anymore. It was messing with my singing."

"Your weird new voice is messing with your singing." Zatch made that kind comment.

"Does it look like I can help that?"

"You sound okay to me." Andrea rolled her eyes. "I was worried when the officer told me something was wrong at home. I wasn't thinking everything he said was true."

"How could you?" I spoke out. "I'm still trying to figure out how I'm gonna explain this to my parents... Sorry, it's me, Vince."

"Vince? You looked like an exotic cactus from where I'm standing! What happened to you, Hon?"

"Same thing that happened to Zatch and his bro and sis. We've got no idea how all of this started, really... Our best guess is that it has something to do with the meteorites, but it's not like people are going to believe us." This spoken, I had realized I deemed everyone in Autumnridge as skeptical. The only connection to this were the meteorites! So little was known about these objects. What eluded me was the astronomical coincidence of a small cluster of these rocks striking down upon grounds within walking distance of each other...

That was a concept far beyond my comprehension, and a piece of the dreamlike puzzle which would remain out of reach for time measured in units one could not simply count.

It turned out that this concept made a lot of sense to Andrea.

"It's the only lead that seems feasible around here. Those poor kids... Well, you poor kids, I should say. How do you each feel?"

"I feel alright." Zack answered, adjusting the headphones around his wide neck. Neither he or his siblings needed to utilize them, though it was a habit of Zack to wear the headphones even when they were not necessary. "'Sucked when we changed. Everything hurt."

"Yeah, but not... five minutes after the transformations, we probably all felt completely fine. I was a little dehydrated. 'Dunno about you fellas." Zatch leaned forward, crossing his small arms over his set.

"I saw all of these happen so fast." Topher began talking, albeit quietly as usual. His voice came to a more audible level as he soon realized no one else was talking. "Vince was already a Pokémon, but only a few minutes after we got in the house, Zatch changed. Then Zack, which I didn't see, and then Zelda. I might be wrong. Zelda and Zack may have changed into Pokémon at the same time."

"Pokémon? That's what you are?" Andrea lifted Zelda, whom she continued to cradle. "That is just... unreal. My babies are Pokémon? How are we going to explain this to your father?"

"Why explain what we can just show him?" Zatch suggested before sitting up and giving me an estranged look. "Vince, dude, shouldn't you get home kind of soon? If the officer told our mom about what happened, he might've spoken a word to one of your parents."

"Gah..." I groaned, shutting my eyes and planting both of my small palms to my face. I had thought about this possibility, though dismissed it an hour or two ago. When Andrea had brought up the fact that she had been told by Sanders, it'd slipped my mind. "You've got a point. Yeah I need to get home. It's gonna get dark soon, and I'm going to need to face my folks sooner or later."

"I had better head out too. I have to do a little studying, and uhm..." Topher paused, lowering his head as though he was at a loss for words. "Mmmaybe I should get to sleep earlier tonight. I-if I can."

"I'm with you there, buddy." Zack agreed with a smirk. The three DJs probably felt "alright", as Zack had described, but I'd hardly believe it if they denied being tired in some way. I was.

"Do you two want me to take you home?" Andrea offered. It was kind of her to do such a thing having only just returned home with little to no time to actually absorb everything. She had always been called a "cool mom". She deserved a title even more glorifying than that. While I knew that being driven may have been best, I declined.

"I'm fine, but thank you."

"Me too." To my surprise, Topher refused this offer as well. "I'm grateful, Mrs. Hummings. But I want to walk through the woods and... reflect... I guess is what I'm trying to say..."

I shot Topher a lasting glance. Out of all of us, he was surely the most bothered... I intended to at least try and figure out what exactly was troubling him so. Cruce would have been the obvious answer. There was something beneath that layer. Something crawling underneath his skin which transcended our conversions, as well as the meteorites. I left the house empty handed, while Zack retrieved Topher's school gear. I knew nothing about who was in possession of mine. In the end, this mattered little. I wished my friends the best of luck with the remainder of the day, and those to come for which they would awaken as Pokémon to a morning sun. That very star was nearing the end of its descent for the day. I was hoping we would be able to return home before night, even though that would have been an ideal time for me to travel. I did not need to display myself to the public any more than I had done already, while I still knew that Sanders might spread the word. To avoid any attention, I darted to the treeline, surveying the area with Topher until it was devoid of townsfolk. We had little trouble, as we were able to move peacefully through the woodland path on our own.

Little a mumble was made as I flew beside the perturbed peer of mine in this golden wilderness aglow with the last of the sun's light. He watched the ground as he walked, leaving me to be alert for any passersby. I knew he needed to reflect, as he mentioned earlier, but I had hoped for something of a conversation with him, rather than the sound of his footsteps on the soft dirt with the occasional breaking of a fallen leaf.

"Topher..." I called his name. He lifted his head in response. "I'm just going to say what's on my mind. I know that there's more to the problem with Cruce than I've heard so far." I knew he was watching me. I did not look him in the eye as I continued to address my thoughts. "I want to hear it from you. I want to hear what really happened with you two and that meteorite."

An understandable gap of silence followed my aggressive demand for truth. This boy was never the type to respond hastily in the wake of aggression, despite his mature efforts with Lieutenant Sanders previously.

"...I remember... I was writing my fantasy story that Cruce always makes fun of me about. He always tells me what he would do if he was the 'main hero of the story'... I knew the meteor shower was that night, but I got so caught up in my writing that I'd forgotten. Cruce was outside on one of the lawn chairs. I-I swear, one moment I was in my zone, the next I was shaking scared. There was one crash... Another crash... and the loudest crash. I looked out my window. Our wooden fence was on fire... er... what was left of it. There was this tear-shaped rock that was shimmering with heat sitting idly in a crater. Cruce looked okay at first, but a wooden plank must have nearly taken his head off. There was a gash in the side of his cheek. He was limping... I helped him with his cut. We stayed inside for the rest of the night, but... the next morning, each of us investigated the meteorite that could have torn through our house. It cooled down overnight. Cruce wanted to know what the texture was like. He felt the rock... I tried to pull his hand away. Mine was over his. What happened next was... terrible. He froze. I felt nothing from my cousin. I just... saw him start to fall backwards. I thought he was joking around, but when I looked at his face, I saw a gleam of light leave his eyes. It happened just before they closed. I tried to catch him, but he was already falling a little too fast for me to react."

"This explains why I didn't see you at the hospital. You were there hours after I left."

"Mhmm... We arrived and heard the doctor's diagnostic. I don't remember what those are called exactly. He told us that another patient was going through something like Cruce. They had... two brains."

"Drew... Whatever happened to Drew also happened to Cruce. But we're seeing Drew in these ghostly visions before turning into Pokémon. Is Cruce coming to you like that, Topher?" Just as I finally turned my head to face Topher, a tragic divide occurred. I did not see him. I looked down. There was a tiny creature walking on all fours beside me. It's back was a light, grassy green—perhaps it was grass—with a magenta flower near its front. I could see that the rest of this creature's body was white... But this entire take on Topher was fleeting, as he was soon walking beside me once more. I blinked, rubbing my closed eyes before watching him again.

"You're going to think I'm crazy..." Topher parted the hair concealing one of his eyes to the side. "Every time I think too strongly of Cruce, I see... apparitions... of my own characters. I never see Cruce."

I could not find the words to use following this. Nor could I find the time to think of such words, as I heard plenty coming from a nearby group people in the thickets. They sounded slightly familiar, but I panicked...

"Topher, I have to bail. I can't let anyone else see me like this." I announced, readily fluttering my wings.

"I understand... I'm going to go see who it is over there." He faced the trees. Lit with the golden rays of the falling sun, the mud path into the deeper woods only led to one possible, surreal location. "I think Cruce's friends are still at the Obsidian Circle."

"Okay..." As much as I had wished to join, I had to return home to an agitated family. "Topher, I'm sorry if I pressured you a little. I don't know what's happening with you for sure, but I'm willing to help out. I don't know how... But the police have gone and taken point on my issue. That leaves the DJs and I with you."

"Thanks." Perhaps I had missed earlier expressions of equal joy, but I witnessed Topher's lips curl into a smile for the first time this day. He came close to me, embracing me in a gentle squeeze. I lifted my head to him, curious as to whether or not my wings should still be operating. I took in the scent of his choice of subtle floral fumes, which were delightful enough for me to play my part in the hug and wrap my arms around him as far as they would reach. "You're too cute, Vince. I wish I could take you home with me."

"I've got a feeling we'll all be together again soon..." And that was as true as true could be...

Letting the hug last for a few more moments, we parted. I looked to the canopy, setting my aerial path back home. Without hesitation, I flew for the trees, leaving Topher to decide his next course of action...

There was a lot to that guy. Topher was a classic case of more than meets the eye, and even when the eye did meet him, I'm sure an brow above that eye was raised...

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><p><em><strong>Post-AN: <strong>Topher's up next. I think the last author's note of mine said something about a TF in this chapter, but I decided against that long ago... Very long ago. Unfortunately, I no longer have chapter 9 in my doc manager. Wasn't able to edit it in time. This chapter references Wave's sister story, Spirit Cross._


	11. Case 5: Topher Wave

**CASE 5: TOPHER REIGH - The Wave is Rolling  
><strong>

**_Note: _**_Right. Here I am again. This time, we're going into Topher's mind. It's not as psychedelic as I had described in the previous chapter... Maybe. Well, most of the crazy stuff is happening here now. So I guess he is the most delirious. This is his TF. I had originally thought not to change him a while back. But I did. That said, enjoy the madness~__  
><em>

**_Disclaimer:_**_ I don't claim possession over characters originating from the franchises of Chun Soft, Game Freak, Nintendo, and The Pokémon Company._**_ They belong to their rightful owners._**

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><p>I'm Topher Reigh...<p>

I've lived in Autumnridge for more than half of my age. I was basically forced to move in with my aunt and uncle because of my parents' poor child management. The two of them were regarded as famed scientists. I was too oblivious to understand how famous they were. I was tutored by my mother, who researched biology. Before a lab accident separated us, I did not remember being much like the person I have become. I hardly recalled who the older Topher was. He was nothing like me... But I couldn't say for sure. I never found out what really happened to my mother and father. I was too little to make sense of anything. That was an awfully hard thing to get past... The disappearance of my parents, to be clear. It wasn't uncommon for untimely depression to settle in on days, good or bad.

I genuinely knew I was in capable hands now.

I loved my aunt Janet and my uncle Gibson. They were nothing like my real parents... I was happy for that. My mind was constantly abuzz with the illogical conspiracies of past times. To this day, I asked questions such as, "Are they working on something under the government's nose? Did they genetically engineer me so that I would grow up to look like this?" ...My cousin Cruce always reassured me that both of those crazy ideas were impossible.

Cruce was my best friend... He managed to put up with my occasional miserable attitude and my frequent friskiness. I applauded him for it... I thought the world of him, just like I cared for each of his wonderful friends. Thinking of their smiles was enough to bring me happiness in the form of inner warmth. Cruce made me feel like a normal boy. He made me feel connected to society in the way I was supposed to be.

I knew was no ordinary school kid. In addition to being locked away with my writing habits, I was called a transvestite... I knew what it meant, and I was grateful to avoid criticism for it. I may have received some in my lifetime. I couldn't control how I grew... That wasn't to say I didn't accept who I had become. That was something I used to theme my stories... Well I wasn't at all sure of how it came to this, but I was practically a girl. I was five and a half feet tall. My hair fell a few inches short of my waist. It was an ordeal to manage much of the time. I loved to fiddle with my bangs. That said, my hair, highlighted with streaks of a brown brighter than its base color, concealed one of my bright teal eyes.

Here was where many mistook me for a girl. My hips were curvy. I had no say in that. It was how I sprouted... Maybe my choice of clothing had a role to play in why I was seen as a girl. As an example, I was wearing light blue jeans—there were a few floral designs sewn into the jeans—cut at the ankles with small white sneakers, pink line-art at their sides. I wore a white tube top with a pink clothing label on the back... In short, I cross-dressed...

I never knew how to be a boy.

But... being a boy didn't concern me at all. Not on this day. Not at all. Just being human was the occupant of my troubled mind. I was glad that I was not forced into this chain reaction of transformations...

Ah, yeah! Autumnridge had seen some unbelievable occurrences. These small comets... meteorites, excuse me, fell in our town. I've only heard of a couple in our area, but they've already taken their toll on me... I was so stupid to let Cruce go out and get involved with the whole thing...

Cruce was injured somehow. That Saturday morning, he wanted to feel the meteorite that landed in our backyard. We were blessed to avoid it colliding with the house... Well, I tried to take his hand back, but he had already touched the rock. He just... fainted... And we rushed him to the hospital. There, we were taught that Vince's little brother had fainted in the same way.

And now they had two brains...?

To top things off, Vince and his friends were being turned into Pokémon. Erm, that was probably the most nonsensical thing. A few space rocks crashing down nearby was still not as probable to happen as close friends turning into monsters from a TV show or video game. Not in our reality...

But...

I may have already been doomed to share that fate. I didn't mean to make it sound so dramatic, but I didn't have the vocabulary to describe just what exactly this was.

I was scared. My cousin wasn't here to help me, and I didn't know what was happening... Vince and the cute DJ family tried to help by making the best of their problems, but mine were a little different... No, not from Vince's... He cared so much about Drew, and he had turned into something weird already. He looked adorable, but he probably wasn't too absorbed with that. Maybe it wasn't my place to be so gloomy and stand so... aloof...

Vince and I had just split up. Walking through the forest during sunset was a lovely pass time. The scenery was gorgeous. The woods made me feel comfort, more so with friends nearby, which they were. Familiar voices muttered through the branches. I knew that this was Cruce's Circle of friends... I was not sure why they were here so late. I was not bothered. I wished for someone to talk to. Who better than close friends? Standing in the falling sun's rays, further aglow with pollen visible in these beams, I faced the mud path leading to a spot everyone called the Obsidian Circle... Before I could make my first step, a ghastly presence spoke my name.

"Topher?" The boyish voice belonged to someone years younger than me. I did not jump, but I did happen to shiver. Spinning around, I saw that this boy was Drew.

"Drew! Drew, how did you get here?! I thought-"

"You thought I was in a coma. But I'm here. I've come to ask you something." His tone of voice was disturbing. It was unnatural. It seemed to me like he was on par with that of a speaking corpse. Lifeless, yet animated.

"Wha? What is that...?"

"Why are you connected to Cruce?" He made not a movement. I, on the other hand, was shaking nigh uncontrollably.

"Cruce? Wh-what do you mean? I'm his cousin! You know that, right?"

"I know many things. You are connected to Cruce. I've seen his body. My gaze pierced his thoughts. His mind is within another. Is that mind yours, Topher?"

"I beg your pardon?" I stuttered, stepping back once.

"...Hmph... Everyone here is ignorant. They have no clue what is really happening. I'm the one pulling the strings. I'm the composer of this orchestra. How... lucky I am... to be working with a mind that contorts to my own..." His speech was almost gruesome. It had sounded like a possessed child's...

"You're not Drew. Get... away from me!" I took two more steps back.

"Aren't you at all curious? Don't you want to know why I'm here...? Why I'm the choreographer of this dance?" He was mad. What was even more sickening about this was his consistent lack of expression.

"Not if I'm at risk. I don't know who or what you are, but I'm not stupid enough to stay here and let you try to scare me!"

"...You humans are strange... Feeble... cowardly... paranoid. Your minds are frail. Topher. You have avoided my gift to humanity. I will find out how. Know that." As if the gears of time itself had slowed, he began taking unusually odd strides toward me. I wasn't capable of movement, nor could I speak. "You've evaded my infection. Your mind is able to ward that off. But how would it handle contact with the source?" I shut my eyes tighter than I thought possible. I felt an intrusion. This effigy of Drew had phased through my entirety as an ethereal mist, following the undisplayed action of having frozen my body temporarily. The sensation of being what I could only describe as a puppet's tool lasted but seconds.

I was trembling. As such, I could move again. I dropped to my knees, tears streaming down my cheeks. Before this moment, I had not felt sorrowful. Having had a ghost pass through my mind and body, my perspective of the moment had been contorted. My emotions were manipulated.

Drew was standing still behind me as I sobbed.

"I see... That inner storyline of yours... That purpose... Is this what you have locked him into, Topher? ...No matter. I have you now. And I'll leave you to weep to your friends. Yes... seek them, just as I will seek you soon again. The clock is ticking... The wave is rolling."

I refused to face the other direction. I had assumed he took his leave. Before this day, I didn't think I could ever be so disturbed and anguished. How did this happen? What happened to Drew? Was that happening to Cruce? Ah...

What was happening to us? ...To... me...?

_Guys? If you're out there... Please be careful. _I was thinking to myself of the harm this phantasmal Drew could have brought anyone else seeing as he had little difficulty with corrupting my mind in some way... I rose to my feet, sluggishly working my way through the thickets. I could not pick up speed. Even at this creeping pace, my body had reached the outer limits of what it could do.

Again, I froze, dropping to my knees a second time. I could not possibly walk, let alone stand. Everything within, bones and organs alike, pulsed with an incredible stinging sensation. Had I the ability to use my voice, I would have screamed for help. The pulse became a nonstop stream of hell. I could only guess, and maybe this was an exaggeration, but it felt about as painful as, or for that matter, more painful than a black widow's bite. Even then, this continued to escalate...

I gave it my all. I would have reached the Circle no matter what the cost. Through this proverbial inferno of pain, I literally crawled through the mud. It was to no avail... I soon envisioned the outcome of my pain. I knew what was happening now...

Before I knew it, my chest had come closer to the ground, although my hands and knees were outstretched to their limit. They were shrinking. My knees, from what I could feel, were disappearing. I was falling and emerging from shock so frequently that my vision was fading from black to full color every few seconds... What I could see was the texture of my arms changing. They were softer, and much thinner. While this was going on, my nose was reshaping. It had stretched slightly, conforming to the shape of a muzzle. My hair became green as it attached to my entire back, which was much smaller. I might have been mistaking these sensations for other things due to my clothes encompassing my body. Before completely becoming engulfed within my attire, I saw my fingers completely retract into my fist, I guess, before slowly sprouting short, white fur. The last feeling was the most complex... Near my face, wherever that was at the moment, something bloomed. Maybe it was a flower. I felt everything about this flower as though it were a part of me. There were six distinguishable petals with a few leaves behind the flower itself...

Within my shirt, I laid upon my rounder belly, tiny new limbs sprawled out.

_...This was Drew... Drew did this... He's doing this. And now... I'm one of them?_

With minimal, yet useful, knowledge of the three cases prior to my own, I steeled myself, knowing that the unbearable pain was subsiding. With that in mind, I took note of the unearthly energies that raced through my veins. Was this what it was like? This was how it felt to be something that shouldn't exist? How could I feel at all? If this body shouldn't have existed, why did... physics apply to it? How could have even been tangible? Everything... was so precise... I really was a Pokémon. My senses had adjusted too perfectly. It was astonishing.

It was also far outside of my imagination. It was happening...

As much as I wished to stay hidden, I had to face others just as Vince and Zatch were bound to. I started to back my way out of my top. When I bumped into my backpack, I silently cursed at myself for taking too many items with me. I was never going to be able to move it now. I made an attempt to exit my clothing from the front. Luckily, the tube top I had been wearing was a bit loose. Poking my nose out to take a breath of fresh air, I proceeded to squeeze through, fully revealing my new form to anyone nearby. Well... there were people nearby, but they still couldn't see me. I wouldn't be surprised if I were to be stepped on soon enough. I was the size of a kitten. With the brain of a human being. I decided not to vex myself over how that worked...

I began to walk ahead, leaving my things behind. I had no use for any of them anymore. My focus was low as I walked, which felt like crawling at the time because of my new bone structure. I would have appeared ashamed to anyone around (who didn't step on me...). The truth was, I was watching the backs of my paws as I walked. I had to remind myself that those were mine...

Finally, I was wear I needed to be.

The softest hum came from the middle of the Obsidian Circle. I looked up.

A meteorite. It was aglow with the most beautiful color I have never seen... It was not red. It wasn't green, blue, pink, yellow... It was _no_ color. But... it was light. This meteorite, which had plummeted into the stone slab, was only half the size of that which crashed into our backyard.

Around this glowing stone of the stars sat six peers of mine:

Al, Emelina, Nickolas, Patricia, Bryan (who I assumed was the one I couldn't see completely around the rock), and Jovany.

All eyes were on me.

And for the quickest split second...

Cruce's were... From in front of the meteorite.

-Shaymin

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><p><em><strong>POST-AN: <strong>The six characters mentioned above will be getting their own cases. Not in that order. Jovany, however, is still last of the six... He is a very special case, after all! Review if you so desire~!_


	12. Case 6: Nick Circle

**CASE 6: Nickolas Wright - The Circle  
><strong>

**_Note: _**_Nick's turn. Here's an original member of the Circle crew. Pretty much every single one of the Circle members here have their TFs within minutes of each other. It's an explosion of transformation. And Nick's is pretty ridiculous, I must say! Enjoy the... sadness?__  
><em>

**_Disclaimer:_**_ I don't claim possession over characters (Pokémanz!) originating from the franchises of Chun Soft, Game Freak, Nintendo, and The Pokémon Company._**_ They belong to their rightful owners._**

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><p>Nickolas Wright.<p>

Nick for short.

No, I had nothing to do with aviation, nor was I interested in airplanes. I've seen the history of my ancestors, and I'm educated enough to know that I was not a descendant of the Wright Brothers.

Currently enrolled in Metedia High as a tenth grader, I belonged to a small coterie of longtime friends. Our opinions varied. We had differences. But we kept ourselves together. That was pretty intriguing. With as different as we felt on so many matters, I was amazed by our tenacity; our ability to stay together. Our interests were night and day. Well, that was an analogy often used for two people. We were seven... Hm, we _were_ seven. However, Jovany made the decision to join us. I doubted this decision would last long. With our situation, even I didn't know all of the answers.

Excuse me for sounding pretentious. I was that way from time to time. It was clear in both attitude and appearance. To begin, I was taller than most of the others. My height was six foot three. My growth spurts were few and far between. When they did occur, I became the tallest of my friends. I was also probably the heaviest. But let's not go that direction for now. My hair was black. An annoying curliness came with its shoulder-length.

I chose to wear the same sort of clothing from day to day. I've been told that has made me predictable. I thought nothing of it. I wore a promotional Navy t-shirt given to me by a family friend. I did not wear jeans too many times. Instead, I wore long cargo shorts, often with a multitude of pockets. Black slip-ons were my choice of footwear. My glasses caused many to make the typical assumption that I was smart. I couldn't argue... To top it off, I wore a plain, gray fedora. Our school prohibited the use of hats. I wore it off campus. The hat was my signature item, or quirk. It seemed like everyone in this group had a quirk. That's why we enjoyed each other's company. Between the seven of us, differing personalities were ubiquitous. I've been called the most realistic thinker in the Circle.

Thinking realistically was as trying as it was all too easy to resort to on this fine Monday.

That was sarcasm. It was not fine. Our mutual friend Cruce had been knocked unconscious with a rock, and not in the way most people would think. I stood against the shared idea of worrying so much about him. Touching a burning stone does not kill a man. I knew that Cruce would be with us soon. Maybe he'd be back the next day. All in all, he was not the type of person who would be happy to know we sat around panicking about him for little a reason. In fact, I would have argued with the idea of the meteorite causing his coma. I couldn't because there were multiple witnesses.

One of those witnesses was a boy, and I use that term lightly, named Topher. He was Cruce's cousin. Out of each of us, he was the one overreacting the most. It was like Max had died...

Cruce felt unnatural for most of us to say, except Topher, so we called him Max a lot more than his first name. In this solemn context, Cruce was used a bit more.

I and six others were deep within Autumnridge's woodland. We dubbed this place our refuge from society. It was the Obsidian Circle; a symbolical site of stones oriented in a perfect circle. I and my friends were awestruck when we came to this spot today. It was decimated with a third of these supposed rocks from outer space. That made this day and reasonable thinker's worst nightmare. Meteorites. Three. In the same town. You could _identify_ their spots if you were standing atop one of the trees here. That was my hypothesis. One of them, any who.

Allow me to explain the irregularities of today's meeting: Cruce was missing. Topher was missing. There was a massive stone from space between us. Lastly, we organized this at the last minute. Al's rugby practice interfered with our meeting. Danithan, a close friend of one of Max's other acquaintances, asked to join. He knew we'd be discussing the meteorites, and that close friend of his had gone missing. He thought there was a connection. I was incredulous, but that was the only connection within sight. Luck wasn't on his side. He was needed to move furniture for a neighbor. They were shorthanded, I assumed. I wouldn't have thought he would oblige to do that. He was not someone who became easily distracted...

But I could see how a good friend found a pressing matter like this difficult to attend.

"Why so quiet, Nick?" Said a fellow Circle member to my left. This was Emelina. She was one of those peppy cheerleader slash Student Body Council girls. I was amazed she found the time to be with us. I knew she had other friends. The reason for her loyalty to the Circle was her fangirl obsession with Topher's... idiosyncrasy... And her ridiculously obvious crush on Al.

"Thinking." I replied. I was not curt, although a short reply might have suggested that.

"What are you thinking about?" She asked.

"Well," I chuckled, opening my hand to the meteorite. "There's a shimmering space rock here."

"So true. I don't like it at all. It's making me nervous."

"I'm tellin' ya, it's from Mars!" Said Bryan, an interesting fellow whom I won't go into much detail about. "'S got like an alien worm in there!"

"Don't say shit like that. We don't know what this is..." Retorted Al. "'Could be anything. Probably. Maybe it's not even from space. Some sort of new chemical warfare...?"

"Do they dip rocks in radiation and fling them across continents with a giant catapult?" Mocked Bryan. He was sitting near the silent Jovany.

"If they had a vat of radiation to do that, why would they have a catapult? Shouldn't they have like... a jet-propelled—look, it doesn't matter. Cruce and Vince's bother are jacked up because of this." He replied.

That was another aspect I could not argue with. Both Cruce and Vince's younger brother passed out upon contact with these rocks. The two incidents were related. And the meteorites were the only correlation connection.

"And Vince is missing." Said Patricia. "Did this one do anything to him?" She gestured to the large rock which so kindly blocked our view of one another.

"I was thinking that. We didn't hear about anything like that on the news, other than Drew and Cruce's issue." Explained Emelina.

"Do any of you know why all of the sirens have been going off?" Jovany finally asked us. He was so unusually polite and calm about all of this. I decided to answer.

"Worst case scenario, those are because of other cases of meteorites that may have felled others. Best case scenario, the crime rate in Autumnridge skyrocketed overnight."

"...But Nick... Both of those scenarios suck ass." Bryan complained.

"Have any better guesses?" I asked.

"I don't, but," Jovany started once again. "They do all sound like they're heading the same direction."

"'Least we haven't heard one in a while." Said Al.

It seemed like Bryan was going to say something in return, but he only got so far as opening his mouth. A faint cry of fear rang out. Al and Emelina's reflexes told them to stand. I swung my legs to the other side of the obsidian rock I was upon, expecting to see someone run through the bushes frenzied and shaken. This might have led us to the reason behind the dispatchers' choices to send so many fire trucks, ambulances, and police vehicles off today... I doubted it.

When nothing scurried around the bend on that narrow, mud pathway, everyone in the Circle exchanged glances. I wouldn't go as far as saying our hesitation may have killed somebody. There was no scream. It had only sounded as though someone told another to "get away!".

None of us were willing to even make a movement. I found that pathetic. I could sympathize though. It was the classic Kitty Genovese story in action. Not a single one of us had any plans to get involved.

"Shouldn't we go see who that was?" Emelina asked the simplest question available to any of us in the nerve-wrecking moment.

"Give it a minute or two." Al responded.

"I don't hear anything anymore... No footsteps... Nothing." Said Jovany, listening closely while watching the ground.

"So many stupid birds! Can't hear anything! Go away or something! Go!" Bryan accused nature in a noisy scowl, waving around at the air as though it would have accomplished something... If it were me, and I'm glad it was not the case, I would have blamed the sirens. They were not blaring at this time.

"H-hold on, shut up a sec." Al had said what I was bound to had Bryan kept hollering at birds. "I hear someone crying."

He was correct. Sobs of an attenuated individual sounded from around the bed. Following a few sniffles came what sounded like the same individual falling down. He or she was walking through the mud path... Or trying to.

"Who's coming? Who's crying?" Bryan asked, standing and peering around the meteorite. Patricia gave him a swift look, as if warning him to keep away from the rock. Not even he was stupid enough to touch that though.

A pause...

That earlier instance was realized. Sirens instigated. Firetruck horns blared as we impatiently awaited their passing. Jovany's point of them headed in the same direction each time allowed for me to pick up on a pattern regarding how long it took for each emergency vehicles to pass. While they did, we failed to pick up anymore sound of terror or sorrow or despair.

No.

What we saw next was unforeseen.

A creature nearly the size of my shoes approached the Obsidian Circle with its nose pointed at the ground. Atop its back was a sort of fluffy grass, which I couldn't see clearly. One of the rays of the sunset was giving me a blinding glare from this angle. I saw that it had short white fur on areas excluding the green. At the side of its face was a pink flower. This tiny thing had looked like it'd just walked straight out of a fairytale.

It came to a halt and gazed at each of us before beholding the meteorite. Only then could I see the tears in its green hued eyes.

It was crying? Animals could not cry... Could they? Was this an animal at all? It almost looked like something out of a Pokémon game.

"What is it?" Bryan called out, perfectly in eyesight of this creature.

"I don't know... What the hell, isn't this one of those things from an anime Patricia showed us?" Asked Al, double-taking between Patricia and the grassy animal.

"I've never seen this in an anime." She eliminated that possibility. I remembered nothing of this shape either...

The crying creature consulted me, of everyone here, to dry its tears. To an extent. It all but collapsed into one of my shoes, sobbing away. Who was I to know how to comfort an al-

Alien! This was... no... Now I was thinking like Bryan... Though, if this were an alien, it would explain why there was a defensive shout made earlier. Who, then, shouted?

_Was it you...?_ I thought to myself, fascinated by the tiny thing at my feet.

And not only was I dumbfounded. My head began to ache. With volatility. I shook it briefly, finding it'd be best to avoid that. When this headache persisted without subsidy for longer than a few seconds, my fingers curled into a tight fist...

My world faded away for moments I could not count.

...

"_And the closer you are..."_

"_The quicker this will be."_

"_Make the right choice."_

"_Join them. Join me."_

My eyes shot wide open. I wasn't sure how long they have been closed, or when it was I closed them. Never have I tried a hallucinogen, but this day might have been the closest experience to some kind of trip I've ever had. I was never the type to scare easily. This defeated that trait of mine. Spooked, I stood up, eyes wandering around my friends of the Circle.

"This got too weird for me. I have a headache. I don't want to worry about Max anymore. I think he's fine... We all have a project to do. Let's not let this thing bug us... I'm sorry. I have to get going" I declared, bound to disappoint everyone here. Well, maybe not. I was not the best company.

As I glanced downward, I saw the sadness in the creature's eyes as it raised its head. It was displaying a human emotion: one I could communicate with... For now, my skull was threatening to burst.

"You're leaving us already?" Asked Bryan. I knew there was something of relief behind his ruse. I had a habit of interfering with his... imagination.

"Yeah man, things just got real." Joked Al.

"Al, somebody needs to explain what the word 'real' means to you." I crouched, my fingers curling under the tiny white and green being's belly, which should have warned it of the action I was about to take. I lifted it. It gave a forlorn squeak. "Here, I'll pass this on to you." With both arms outstretched, I handed the small animal to Al. He did take it, though it looked like Emelina would have volunteered to do so in his place.

"It's so cute! What is it, I wonder?" I heard Emelina speak. Before I moved to the mud path, I caught a quick glimpse of her stroking its back.

"See you all tomorrow." I gave my farewell as I stepped from the Obsidian Circle.

The truth about all of this was that I sincerely disliked the thought of leaving the Circle gatherings early. I had nothing to do. I brought up the English project as an excuse. I had little a hobby to keep me entertained. I wasn't like Bryan, who had basketball. Or Max, who had been taking karate for years. Even the repressed Topher had something to do...

Huh, I did find it atypical of Topher to miss a meeting. He might have avoided it for the same reason I wanted to leave, minus the headache. Out of all of us, I'd think he was the best candidate for opting out on this discussion at the Obsidian Circle. I wonder where he was...

My brain was afire with a strange stinging. It was showing me illusions now. I shrugged off the sight of Topher's clothing and backpack. That... wasn't real...

…

"Nickolas."

Not even I knew I could turn around so fast. It was disorienting. I had just come from the small, discreet side path which led to our spot. Now I was on the woodland's wide biking trail. And so was someone else.

"Nickolas, how could you...?" It was Drew. Or a doppelganger. This ominous variant of a human being was proof enough that he was no such thing.

"I see right through you, whatever you are." I took a stand, undaunted by this apparition.

"I couldn't care less. You don't know who or what I am." With the blankest slate of expression, he lifted an arm, limply pointing at me. "Arrogance plagues your thoughts. You're condescending and you can't accept that... You are insecure. Look where it has taken you. Away from your friends. So soon? How could you leave them like this?"

"I know my flaws. I'm nondiscriminatory in whose neck I snap, and that'll be yours if you don't back the fuck off."

"Aggression... It's too bad you lack chemistry. Only then would you have been able to come to the rescue of your friend... Well, I'm happy I could visit you either way. You have him to thank for that."

"I have no more words to waste on you." Giving this figment attention no longer, I faced the other direction, prepared to ignore any lies I was about to hear.

"Are you leaving? Pompous of you. Abandoning them like this. Remember these words: you need them. You need me. All of you need me."

His words were nothing to me. I walked, but with each step I took, I traveled a shorter distance. My take on reality quaked. It became too hazardous to walk any further...

"Ahh! What the... fuck?" I spoke through my teeth, hands compressing my frontal lobe. I had dropped to my knees, feeling just about ready to tear my eyeballs from their sockets. My fedora fell from my head, which felt ready to explode.

Was that fake Drew behind this? Was he even still behind me?

The slightest movement of my head only accelerated the pain to new heights, if that was not automatically occurring already. I think it was. Everything within my body burst. My torso flared with excruciation, cuing me to remove my shirt. I didn't hesitate. I lifted the damned thing from my body, tossing it to the dirt and placing my palms against my solar plexus. It was at this time I lost my glasses. I didn't care. I couldn't see anyway. I couldn't hear. My waist shrunk. Either that or my shorts grew, and that was stupid.

I began to feel fuzz form upon my chest. Soon enough, I took a hand from my chest or belly, or wherever it was, and slammed it against the side of my head. I was already in agony. It did not hurt to do that. Something poked at that palm. It was my ear. Or _an_ ear. Its structure was rearranging itself. The feeling of my ear canals "tilting" or "sliding" upward made me sick. I refused the urge to vomit, even as the same thing began to infringe my senses on the other side. Dare I ask why I coughed as I felt each strand of hair upon my head sink into my body and transmogrify from there. Into what, I had no idea. I wasn't even sure if it was transmogrification.

My back tingled before sending a spike of agony through my spine. Simultaneously, the fuzz upon my chest became fur, then a thicker fluff, especially around my neck, which I had felt shorten and soften. Fingers and toes alike fused into one another while the fluff began to spread, assaulting me in the form of a stinging, omnipresent itchiness. My shorts and shoes became negligible to my body, as I was now laying flat on my chest. I managed to open my eyes halfway, reaching forward desperately. I misjudged the size of my own appendages. This arm was minuscule... My torso was minuscule... A lengthy object sprung from the bottom of my spine. It felt serrated in a... "puffy" manner. I had no knees. I had no opposable thumbs. I felt strands of fur tickle against the insides of these enormous ears, and a similar strand or two stick out from my forehead... Judging from the fur on my arm, I was probably mostly gray at this point.

There was no longer anything to struggle for.

Well I was reckless. I may have just died and entered some psycho-hell. I cared, but... I needed my glasses and my hat.

Fatigued and on the verge of passing out, I crawled flat on my belly until I could reach them. It was testing. I couldn't breathe very well. My arms were the size of twigs, which didn't help. I had no fingers to efficiently grab things with. Come to think of it, I probably couldn't wear my glasses if these strange ears didn't hold them properly. And I hadn't given any heed to my new nose, which was not very long. A lack of legs worried me. It was like my torso was linked directly to my feet... or foot-paws... Which were tiny, and not much help right now.

Breathing in, I exerted myself, reaching for my glasses. That was all I was capable of. With this paw of mine idling there, I laid my heavy head on its side and closed my eyes... The pain abated... The most relieving mitigation I've ever felt. But I was so helpless. And small... I exhaled.

Hm...

A fifth limb?

I managed to flick it over my body, opening my eyes for a short time. It looked like a brush.

So I guess that was a tail.

Holy crap...

-Minccino

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><p><em><strong>Post-AN<strong>**: **Minccino. That just happened. Al is up next. Had some important messages in this chapter though. _


	13. Case 7: Al Circle

**CASE 7: Al Sanders - The Circle  
><strong>

**_Note: _**_Al's up. He's the only character of the Circle who has had dialogue prior to this point. It was with Zatch in the locker room. Wasn't too important. These chapters are a little shorter. I'm also thinking that I will the human-Pokémon interactions will be kind of brief. Future plans for the series and all. It's all madness at this point. But hey, that's for you folks to enjoy.__  
><em>

**_Disclaimer:_**_ I don't claim possession over characters (Pokémanz!) originating from the franchises of Chun Soft, Game Freak, Nintendo, and The Pokémon Company._**_ They belong to their rightful owners._**

* * *

><p>My name's Al. Al Sanders.<p>

I'm one of the star players on the rugby team here at Metedia High. It's not the most popular sport around these parts, and a lot of people tell me I didn't look like the kind of dude who'd play it. It was pretty sick though. I was that guy who always took the beatings. So yeah, I've broken a lot of bones. I've gotten messed up on more than one occasion. The most recent thing I've broken was my nose, but that's recovered. To be fair, it was really only the start of the Sophomore year for us. I hadn't played any rugby over the summer. There have been a lot of practices lately though.

Point was, I was a dude who cared a lot about the team. I focused strongly on my grades. I had only one B right now, but, like I said, it was still the beginning of the year.

I was about five foot ten. It looked like I didn't have much brawn, but when I flexed, you'd put your money where your mouth was. If it was ever there. Wherever "there" was. My hair was blond, cut short enough to make you think I belonged at boot camp. I hated how my skin never tanned. It was either too white, or sunburned like hell, which happened on my face more than anywhere else. I wore a red, black, and white letterman's jacket that I got from the JV football team Freshmen year with some loose denims and gray Vans. Out of all of us, I was the only one here who still had my school crap. I pretty much just arrived from rugby practice. Ugh...

None of this really mattered.

One of my best friends had a problem. He slipped into a coma on Saturday. One of my other buddies went missing. And that buddy's little brother slipped into a coma as well...

It all happened in a cluster, and I heard almost nothing about it. I was working on the English project we'd been assigned some time ago. I never got around to it, but I liked to get things done quickly. It never let me down in the past. That didn't work too well as a tactic on the field during rugby. It was responsible for a lot of sprains and cracked bones.

It was Monday, and a group of pals of mine gathered at the usual spot, which was a small, cryptic burial ground in the woods. I didn't actually know what purpose it served. Everyone called it the Obsidian Circle. I never took part in a lot of the meetings we would have where we sat on the obsidian stones and discussed events. Either I was a bit distracted, or busy elsewhere. I had time to hang out with these guys at lunch, but that was about it. Max was a swell guy. We visited each other's places a lot. I liked his company. His cousin was a little weird for me, but I guess I was a homophobe.

They called this group the Circle. I was never interested in it, but Max and I had been good pals for so long, I gave it a chance when high school started. So did Emelina, who was Patricia's best friend. She was pretty hot. I had considered asking her out, and still do, but I never wanted to disappoint her with how busy I always was. She was probably the same way. But, dammit, that was what made us perfect for each other. I wasn't a wuss. I had the balls to say something, but I didn't have the heart to flake out on any important date because of rugby, homework, or driving school. I had too much goin' on right now.

I think the Circle had been around since elementary school. I knew Max, Bryan, Patricia, and Nick were the original activists of the clique. I didn't care for whatever they had planned. Whatever they wanted to do was cool with me, because their activities were pretty trivial. I've actually had Max get pissed at me because I acted too apathetic towards the Circle. That made me angry. I was anything but apathetic...

Alright, alright... I was impulsive. I admit.

I didn't want to hear anyone call me that today. Boulders from outer space slammed into our neighborhood and incapacitated anyone who touched them. One of those suckers smashed into our spot! That slab must have been one sturdy piece of rock though. There was barely a crater. The meteorite was pretty small. Still, if a _any_ rock is falling to Earth at a speed fast enough to set it on fire, you'd think that would leave some kind of indentation. Well, yeah, the slab was pretty much gone, but this whole forest should have been on fire. These things broke the rules, but you didn't see me complainin'. I'd rather not have my face burnt anymore than it needed to be. And it didn't need to be burnt...

We tried to get somewhere amidst the deafening sirens going off every five minutes. Bryan was ranting about the most unlikely scenario as usual. Nick was stoic as usual. Topher was absent, which was... unusual.

I did happen to hear something going on a moment ago. I'll tell you what it led to...

...Well... Uh...

I was holding something.

It was the size of a rabbit. It looked like a hybrid hedgehog of some kind; like a cross between turf and a porcupine. It had white fur, greenish eyes, and a flower growing out of the side of its head. It walked up to the Obsidian Circle like nothing. And then it cried. It still was crying. And Nick just gave the thing to me. I held it at arm's length, not so sure we should have been messing around with crying mythical wild animals.

"We should probably let this little thing go, right?" I asked, eying anyone for an answer. Nick had just ditched us because he didn't like worrying about Max. I guess it made sense, but I didn't like that decision all that much. There was probably something else he was too shallow to tell us about.

"Here! I wanna hold it, Al." Said Emelina, holding her arms out at me. I would've been happier if that was a hug, but it wasn't... My head certainly wasn't making my day any better. I had a minor headache when I woke up, and it felt like it'd just returned to make me upset once again. I probably did something during practice... I would've given the creature to Emelina had I not felt like someone was hammering a framed picture to my skull just now.

"W-wait... Why did Nick..." I almost dropped the freaking thing. It spoke. It fucking spoke! And it knew Nick's name! At least, that's what I thought I heard through all of the sniffling.

"WHOA! DID IT JUST-" Bryan reacted by coming up to us, not taking his eyes from the hedgehog thing. "It talked, right?"

"Mhmm, I can talk, guys... It's Topher. I'm Topher."

I thought I felt a twitch in my shoulder from how crazy that was...

"Topher...?" Emelina spoke in her gentlest tone. This amount of absurdity brought Patricia and Jovany to their feet. They said nothing. There wasn't really anything to say to this. This little thing was Topher...

Actually, it sounded like the first one to break the quickly reformed ice was Nick. He sounded agitated. In fact, he sounded like he was about to beat somebody up out there. He wasn't that kind of person. I didn't know him to be.

"Nick!" Cried Topher, shutting his eyes tightly. "No, no, no, he's in trouble... he's in trouble, and it's my fault."

"What are you talking about, Topher? What's happening?" I gave him a stern look. I needed to know what this was all about. We all did. Something was going on with Nick, and I just had a hunch Topher was the only one who knew what that was.

"I don't know. I don't know." He repeated himself, unstable through the tears.

"C'mon, pull yourself together for a minute, dude..." I tried to calm him down. It seemed like the more hysterical he became, the more my head pounded. Emelina was stroking his back with the same goal in mind. "We can't help unless you tell us what exactly is happening." This was a strategy I had learned from my father, who was in the police force around here.

"Guys, I don't know what's going on. Drew's spreading th-the... Vince and Zatch's family... They... They ..." I knew this was going nowhere. Topher was a smart guy, but he was out of his element here. Oh, I was pretty sure we all were. I hated calling someone as innocent as him hopeless, but that was the truth right now.

"Emelina, can you calm him down? If Patricia and Jovany could stay and try to help out, that'd work." I kept following past instructions my father had given me in case of emergencies. Head searing with pain, I handed the small thing who called itself Topher to Emelina. She gladly accepted him, wrapping her arms tightly around him.

"Sh sh sh sh... I've gotcha, sweetheart" She whispered to him, treating the guy like a baby. Patricia assisted where she could, petting Topher's back periodically. Jovany stood by the two.

"Where you goin'?" Asked Bryan, who hadn't been given an order.

"Here, come with me, man. We're gonna help Nick out."

"So we're gonna kick some ass. Let's fuck this guy up."

"Yeah, whatever okay. C'mon, hurry!" I demanded of him. I guess I didn't need to. He looked eager enough, as he was already cracking his knuckles like he knew what he was doing. I didn't think we'd be in over our heads. It was three against one. But my head was beginning to worry me. It was like a migraine had decided to drop in and ruin the show...

Leaving my stuff, I ran with Bryan through the thickets. My foot caught something as I ran. Before I could adjust my speed, I was thrown into the mud, my legs propped up on the object, or set of objects, I'd tripped over. I cursed, sharp pain shooting through one of my ankles. Aside from a broken nose, I recalled suffering a twisted ankle that one day... Mmgh, and it hadn't fully recovered.

"What happened?" Shouted Bongo, who was already a few yards ahead of me. I waved him off.

"Fuckin' foot got screwed up..."

"Why? Is that Topher's stuff?"

"Never mind, dude, go and help Nick. I-I'll be there in a sec." For the second time, I waved him off. He left, but...

Standing aside for him to pass, and as if Bryan was ABSOLUTELY oblivious to his existence, a kid no older than that DJ girl from the Hummings family appeared out of nowhere. I shot a glance back at my foot, which had been tangled within a pile of clothes and a backpack strap. It really was Topher's stuff. He didn't go commando. He really did turn into that thing!

The mind-shredding pain from the headache dominated the feeling from my ankle, even as I struggled to get free. I couldn't do anything, and I started to feel numb... As I faced forward, I gasped. The blankest face I'd ever seen was inches from my own...

That kid was crouching down, staring down at me, eyes ajar like a zombie's. The boy looked familiar. I couldn't remember who it was. That didn't matter, because the damn kid was taunting me.

"Poor human... Poor human. Really..." He began to talk, but it didn't sound anything like I expected. His voice sounded undead. It sounded colorless and empty; devoid of emotion. "Your fragile bodies are prisons for spirits that would be so useful were they not pathetic in our eyes."

"'The... hell are you? Wh-wha..." I was speaking incoherently, having to squint just to see the kid.

"Al." He mentioned my name. My eyes shot wide open. Light was stinging my retinas. Everything was sore beyond my vocabulary... "Al, you're one to spiral into rage and forget everything about who you are. You abuse anger. You treat it like adrenaline. And that sets you apart from your friends. Imbecile."

I didn't say a word. I lurched for the brat right there. The extent of that was underwhelming. I only managed to swing my arm forward. It would've been a successful roundhouse punch if he didn't swerve backward. I glared. His expression, or lack there of, didn't change...

"Case and point. You have limits. And don't even begin to think you can match me, vermin. The echelons of competence I stand above you are innumerable." He stood up, facing away from me. He was out of reach. I could no longer make a single movement. The arm I had swung lay in front of me. "Nothing can be helped. I'll show what mercy I can on you by raising your limits. It shows how much you humans need me..." He foreshadowed events I didn't care to understand. I only wanted to pass out... I only wanted to leave. But this wasn't something my father would be proud of. The same applied to my coach. I was going to get this son of a bitch and bash his snobby face in.

Wheezing for breath, I buried my fingers into the mud, pulling my body forward. Even the minimal weight of Topher's gear was enough to make this experience ten times more excruciating than it already was. I didn't relent. I kept pulling myself up. The wretched image of my muscles melting into a mix of pus, blood, and liquid tissue triggered my gag reflex. I wasn't sickened easily. There was something else at play.

I was about to die... I just...

I could only think of my bones ground up into dust. My organs transmuted into meshes of bile and rotted excrement.

But...

I carried on. Only until I knew I was losing my mind. The arm in front of me started to look strange. And it was around then when numbness gained control of the battlefield that was my body. There was no more pain. It was pressure. It was worse than pain. I was encased in a midday nightmare. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't move, but I couldn't stop moving as well. Was it a seizure? Was I really moving? Something was moving _inside_ of me. It was... electric... I don't know. It felt like I was being electrocuted from the inside out. I found it hard to grit my teeth together. They were changing shape. I felt fangs start to form. My spine tingled violently. I heard what could have been my bones cracking, but it honestly sounded more like the muffled crackles of electricity.

Both of my arms moved closer to my chest. I couldn't reach forward as easily as I used to be able to. My jacket was swallowing me... Before my head could reach the collar, two round objects sprouted from my ears. Maybe they _were_ my ears. My hair retreated into my body. All of it. Then it just shot back out, but it was much shorter. It was light blue, at least most of it. I didn't know, because I was sinking into my jacket. My legs were reshaping into my thighs in a very unnatural way for a human's. My body didn't work. Therefore, I think my back may have aligned itself differently. My hands felt like they were stuck in the form of fists, with something solid between the fingers. The palms of my hands and the bottoms of my feet felt sturdier, though soft.

I knew my eyes were widening the entire time. I was concerned if they were every going to rip from their optic nerves. That never happened, but they felt so much larger. I saw so much clearer... Well, no. Not at the time. My arms and legs felt most comfortable pointed down. It was like standing on two legs. But I had four instead... I wasn't on my hands and knees, because now the bottoms of my feet were where my knees should have been. My mouth felt a bit wider, I think... Something was attached to my back. I felt it. I could move it. There was something connected to the end of that...

I awaited the end of this contortion. I refused to accept the idea of slacking around and waiting to die. My pants and shoes slid right off, while I had to back out of the bottom of my jacket and shirt. As soon as I tried standing, I fell to my side, legs collapsing with electric numbness or paralysis. Instantly, I knew I had somehow become a lot smaller. I had thick whiskers at the sides of my face, with a strand of fur or hair sticking out of my forehead. My ears were circular or ovular, and allowed a lot more sound to pass through. Vibrations, I mean. Whatever. This fur that had attached to my body was sky blue. Around my hands, or... paws...? It looked like there were yellow bands around only those limbs... My lower, or back, half was black, rather than blue, but still covered in fur. That stringy thing at the end of my back looked like a tail with a yellow cross at the end of it.

But I couldn't do anything now...

I just couldn't.

I didn't die though.

And at least my nose wasn't broken. It felt really nice, actually.

I sighed and let my eyes shut slowly...

_I hope I can still play rugby._

-Shinx

* * *

><p><em><strong>Post-AN:<strong> I feel weird writing these within a day of each other. All of them are basically happening at the same time. Drew hit the jackpot. Emelina's coming up next. The story looks like it's picking up with visitors! ^^ Happy to see that~. Hey, I'm open for critiquing! Fire away! Although, if it's asking to do things differently in terms of the storyline, ehm... That may be a little farfetched. I've been having a lot of fun writing this lately, and I want to keep it that way. But that doesn't mean I don't want to try new things. I'm open to suggestions, but let's keep 'em limited~! :3_


	14. Cases 8 and 9: Emelina and Pat Circle

**CASES 8 & 9(?): EMELINA GREENE & PATRICIA VIENNA - The Circle  
><strong>

**_Note: _**_Now things get weird. Weirder. Two cases at once? It was a bit repetitive going through every single one of the Circle members in the same fashion. True, Emelina is up next, but... well, so is Pat. And Pat's case is kind of different.__  
><em>

**_Disclaimer:_**_ I don't claim possession over characters (Pokémanz!) originating from the franchises of Chun Soft, Game Freak, Nintendo, and The Pokémon Company._**_ They belong to their rightful owners._**

* * *

><p>Hi! My name is Emelina Greene!<p>

I was a cheerleader who liked volleyball, listening to music while practicing routines, watching movies, and much much more. I was also in the Student Body Council! I helped out with a lot of important events, like dances and special dress-up days. Usually, my days were kind of busy. I liked busy days though. They kept my mind in tip-top shape. I knew a lot of people who were inactive and had low self-esteem because of that. Staying active keeps you motivated, and it prevents your brain from betraying you with thoughts of depression and stuff.

My friends at Metedia High called me Lina. There were a few who called me by my full name. Weirdly, those few were who I was with now! Pat and her close friends called this silly little group the Circle. I was inclined to join because one of my good friends really wanted me to. I thought it'd be fun, and it has been! We got along very well. Even though Nick was a little odd and Bryan was a little loud, Cruce was cool! Topher was the cutest thing ever, and Al was a stud. He totally had the hots for me, but he was probably too nervous to tell me the truth. I didn't really get how those busy boys thought. Maybe he just didn't want a girlfriend. I knew for a fact that he didn't have one.

I wasn't too picky, and I knew things would work for the better! He just needed time. I probably pressured Al about the whole thing a little too much... Maybe he suspected something of me.

Anyway, I was 16 years old; a Sophomore at the high school around here. I was 5'8". My weight wasn't all that important! Besides, I was really skinny. I had a super high metabolism, which meant lots of energy, so little time. I loved wearing light clothing, even in the cold, because it didn't bother me too much. I was wearing a bright scarlet shirt with cut sleeves, jean cut-offs, and flip flops with orange daises on each loop. My eyes were hazel and my hair was light brown, straightened and trimmed so that it wasn't a hassle during cheerleading practice. I had a habit of dying a portion of my bangs a different color every week. Last week, they were blue, and now they were red. It was my thing! And it seemed like everyone here had their own fashion thing. It was fitting. Oh, I also wore a little yellow floral clip through my hair! It matched my sandals.

But enough about me...

My best friend Pat and I were having one of the strangest days, like, ever.

Meteorites—yes, the ones from space—crashed into our home! Not our houses. I mean, they struck Autumnridge. And they did weird things. I didn't want to believe they were behind the disappearance of Cruce, Drew, and Vince. If they really were, we had to be very careful. There was a meteorite right at our spot in the woods. I knew why we had to meet up today, but why did it have to be here with that freaky rock?

But if today wasn't already freakish enough, the most adorable little forest animal found its way to us. It looked like a living plant, but it also appeared to me as a skunk without a tail. I just wanted to take the little thing and cuddle it up, especially because it looked so sad. I didn't even know anything on this planet but humans could cry.

What happened so quickly after it came up to us was weird. Nick just left! He gave the cute little skunk to Al, but then we heard something unnerving come from the bike trail. Right after Nickolas left, he got into some trouble. So, Al told Patricia and Jovany and I to stay and watch the little animal.

Oh my God, but this kept getting stranger and stranger. It was out of control. That little animal... was Topher...

"Topher, do you even know how this happened to you?" I asked him, caressing him in my arms.

"I'm not sure." He started through his frequent tears and sniffles. "I saw Drew... Drew, Vince's brother. No, no, it's not Drew. I don't know who it is."

"Is it someone who looks like Drew?" Inquired Pat, who was lightly stroking Topher's back. Topher nodded.

"He looks like Drew. But he doesn't act like Drew. He's a ghost... He's something, a-anything but human."

"And this ghost did this to you?" I asked him as Pat gently felt one of the petals near his face.

"I think so. He walked right through me and did something to my mind. I-it was all so hard to take. I couldn't keep myself together."

"How can anything be capable of that?" Asked Jovany. He was pacing back and forth, a hand on his chin as he occasionally looked at Topher, then back to the meteorite.

"That's not all, guys, I... was with Vince and Zatch. They turned into... turned into..." It was like he couldn't finish a proper sentence. He was horrified.

"What? Are they like you now? What happened to them?" Patricia asked the question I was about to before I could open my mouth. I was starting to feel slow... My head was beginning to hurt.

"Vince and Zatch... a-and Zack and Zelda. They're Pokémon. We're turning into Pokémon."

"What?" Jovany and Patricia cried out. I didn't hear Topher clearly. I was tempted to ask him repeat himself, but I knew that he was shaken. I was starting to feel beyond horrendous...

…I couldn't... breathe right...

"Pat."

* * *

><p>I am Patricia Vienna.<p>

In terms of school, I was affiliated with Metedia High in Autumnridge.

In terms of hobbies and interests, I liked anime, games, writing poems, and listening to all kinds of different podcasts.

Lastly, in terms of appearance, I was a fairly short girl. I was five foot three. My hair was black, more often than not styled into a short ponytail. The clothes I wore suggested I was slightly gothic. Hmm, I had to leave that for the discretion of my peers. My attire was shady, and by that I meant basic black with a few hues of dark blue. I did not exactly have access to typical gothic or punk clothing... At the moment, I was wearing a plain black and navy blue shirt, with slightly torn black jeans. Two guesses as to what color my shoes were.

My nuance of the Circle was a short silver necklace, a pendant of onyx attached to it. Hm, it seemed like each of us had something that set us far apart from the rest of society. And I was happy to know that we used that to our advantage, forming an unbreakable bond Max has called the Circle.

I did not lack emotion. I loved laughing. I had plenty a laugh when days were bright and moods were high. I could always count on the Circle to liven my days. Were it not for them, well, I was never sure what a world without them could be like. It would not make my situation at home any better. That was something I preferred not to go into detail about.

Our plans for today regarded the Obsidian Circle, as they normally do. This time, things flew beyond my grasp. One incident became another, then another, and as my dear friend Emelina would have said, the day has "turned, like, freaky..."

Hmm, it was so much worse than I had thought. Today, I set out only expecting to be assigned homework. And then I would return to school the next day. Rinse, lather, repeat... But that did not happen. Hm...

I needed to correct myself. A regular day did occur, followed by an irregular day, followed by an unheralded mess.

Somehow, it had all come down to Topher, at present a green and white woodland creature, saying this:

"Vince and Zatch... a-and Zack and Zelda. They're Pokémon. We're turning into Pokémon."

"What?" I cried out. Jovany had done the same exact thing at the same exact time. Jovany was a tenth grader who decided to tag along today. I could not remember the last time he came to the Obsidian Circle with us. I knew he sometimes went with kids one class above our own.

Be it the unlikelihood that I was awake, or the fact that I was standing here listening to a former human talk about Pokémon on our planet, I started to develop a headache. An immense one, at that.

"Pat." Said Emelina, setting Topher down upon one of the obsidian stones. She leaned down to do so, and as she faced Jovany and I, the bleakest expression I had seen her make greeted my sight. Her face had reddened, as though she had been holding her breath... Hm, I was having difficulty breathing, too. What was this, I wondered?

"Emelina, is something the matter? You look ill..." I told her, gently grabbing her wrist and guiding her to the nearest stone. "Come on, take a seat."

She only watched me take her to the rock. She appeared intoxicated, as she wobbled dizzily. I was not in favor of her choice to be speechless. She did not sit.

"Emelina...?" I watched her groggy eyes begin to shut. This was startling. She was passing out before my very eyes. "Emelina!" I called her name a third time, my hands on her shoulders.

"What's wrong with her, Pat? Why is she just standing there?" Jovany asked a question I would have never had the answer to, lest it was given to me. I did not bother with replying. He knew as much as I did... But... did he feel the way I did? Did he feel like laying down and falling asleep? Hm, was this happening to Emelina? And was it about to happen to me?

"Jovany, help... help us..." I kept one hand tight on Emelina's shoulder, the other pressed against my forehead. I hadn't realize how warm Emelina began to feel. Something was racing through her... And like her, that something may have been inside of me. I felt moist. My insides gave me a visualization of a submerged corpse...

"What? What should I do? What's gotten into you two? Everybody!" He panicked, but he did respond by joining us. His timing was impeccable. I lacked the strength to keep Emelina up. She fell backwards, though Jovany seized her, grabbing underneath her arms and easing her down. "Ah! Shiiiit, Pat?"

"I... Jov... any..." I barely had any breath left. My head felt light. Everything felt feathery, yet soaking wet for reasons indescribable. Tremendous pain was the only thing I could understand. Maybe my body could only identified this as pain.

"Drew!" Someone shouted...

"Tsk, tsk, tsk..." Footsteps. A boy. My blurring vision failed to define him properly. But... Topher was the one to shout his name, correct? This was Drew. I could see him. "Topher." It looked like he raised an arm, opening his palm to Topher, who appeared helpless. "You see the true color. Therefore, you can now see me."

"Ack! H-hey! Can't... move... St-stop it right now, Drew! Stop this!" Topher commanded, or tried to. Teeth clenched, I gave it my very best. My eyes found the boy's as he faced me. He was dead. There was nothing in his gaze. Just... darkness... emptiness.

"Pat. Emelina. I know both of you can hear me, if not, see me, too. But you do not know what that means. It. Is set. In motion." He explained, coming closer to us. But... his legs weren't even moving. "Jovany... Jovany, the One..."

"What the heck is going on here? This is crazy!" Jovany's voice carried a short distance to me, but it sounded submerged within deep water.

"Hmph. The imbecile cannot even see me. Not yet. But you girls can. Pat and Emelina. Pat, you are a shame. A poor, isolated shadow. A useless pawn of depression without those whom you latch upon. And Emelina, you cannot even face me now. Feeble. You are blind. Your optimism hoaxes you. You cannot achieve triumph with flights of fancy so obtusely remote from reality. But you do not need this reality. You need me. All of you. I will fix this reality just for you... Just for you, humans."

Time swallowed me. The phantom of Drew evaporated before my dwindling sight.

So what then...?

We were destined to become Pokémon?

Emelina fell over just as Topher shouted a simple command to Jovany. He had told him to leave us be; that we were infected. How did he know? What did he know? Why did he know? I toppled over as well, agony crawling beneath every fiber of my being... I watched in horror as Emelina began to transmogrify before my very eyes.

Her hair became shorter, curled into small rolls at the top while her bangs remained. The size of her entire body was diminishing while her thighs started to "reel" her legs forward. Right about at that time was when her ears became pointier. They shifted upward, immediately taking on the form of what looked like cat ears. Perhaps fox ears. That led to the development of a reddish fur across most of her body. I couldn't exactly see everything, as she was half concealed within her clothing. Though, her narrower legs escaped her shoes. I saw arms move inward to her chest, breasts receding as well. Each of her fingers lost their detail as they were now within her hands. They couldn't be called hands at this point. Brown fur had started to form around these appendages of hers, as the majority of her naked body was covered in a mild red. Out of her backside emitted the shape of a wave, which quickly sprung up and curled inward. This looked like one object, yet it was six. Each of these were tails, which were an intense, more passionate red, much like that of her hair. I saw a tad of her underbelly, which was white.

I lost focus. I couldn't see anymore, but I was sure that my best friend had transformed into a small red fox.

I...

Began to weep as my shape distorted. I clutched the pendant of mine securely as I took on a burst of pain like none other. My cheeks flared. The same was true for the top of my head. My skin warped. Even though I was shrinking, it was stretching. I awaited for it to rip apart... That much felt imminent. I recognized how soon I had begun falling shy of the size necessary to fill my clothing. My hair disappeared from my cranium, only to rearrange itself at the backside of my head... Was that supposed to happen? ...I clung to my pendant even still.

Even as a long, flat fin of sorts protruded from my head, I held the pendant close. Even as my chest flattened and my skin smoothed out, I kept my grasp around the onyx charm... My head felt slightly more rounded, though something began to weigh down both of my cheeks. I had no idea what these were. I had a feeling that they were each rather sharp: three small spikes on both side of my face. Occasional glances lasting half a second informed me of my skin's blue color. I couldn't help but notice the obnoxious increase in size to my mouth... And the second flat object to protrude from my body. Rather than my head, it was at the bottom of my spine. My fingers had connected, resulting in tinier hands. The same occurred to my feet, and now, I couldn't shrug off the sensation of dryness, while I'd previously come close to drowning... upon dry land.

The upheaval within me was over, but I had dismayed instincts... Was this correct? I knew so little about what was going on, although... I felt incorrect...

I released my pendant.

The ponytail I still had...

My bipedal structure...

Were those traits supposed to _be_?

I was miniature. Enough so to crawl from the collar of my shirt, prongs upon my cheeks squeezing through. Before I blacked out, I saw that these prongs were orange, and that my wide fin of a tail was a brighter blue than the rest of this new body.

…

"Nic? Nic! Holy shit! Uh... Uh, yo-HEY! AL! Get over here!" …

"Al...? ...Al! You... What the fuck is happening?" …

"No! NO! Jovany! Get your ass gone! This is twisted!"

…

-Vulpix

-Mudkip(?)

* * *

><p><em><strong>Post-AN:<strong> You can probably figure out (by process of elimination) whom those last few quotes belonged to. Anyway, while Lina's over there being a Vulpix, Pat transformed into a different kind of Mudkip. [Okay, he appeared in KHPMD: Crossblade. He's going to obviously appear in this. So not much spoilers here.] Cruce also undergoes this transformation where one turns into a Pokémon, but suffers various mutations due to an interference of a certain substance... Hmm~! The next case is probably the most significant in Wave: Endemic: Jovany. I said he'd happen last, but making each of the Circle members suffer a TF in some random order is waaaaay too boring for my tastes. Bryan'll come back, and the special transformation that happened to Pat will be explained in more chapters to come.  
><em>


	15. Case X: Jovany Deluge

**CASE X: JOVANY ALOE - Red Deluge  
><strong>

**_Note: _**_Anticipated chapter! This one is actually one of the shortest in the story. It's all happening so quickly in Jovany's eyes. Then again, this is the only story I've ever written in first person. I'll be switching to third person soon, because I always have more to write about when I'm not limited to one character's mind. That said, I genuinely respect people who can utilize first person point of view correctly. I, however, must level up my third person writing. Jovany's case is a lot different from anyone else's. More than half of the transformation chapters have been completed, leaving only about five or six personal chapters left for Endemic. The side theme of Epidemic will not be TFs... I'll type more words in the post author's note. For now, enjoy the (concentrated, yet small amount of) madness~.__  
><em>

**_Disclaimer:_**_ I don't claim possession over characters (Pokémanz and stuff!) originating from the franchises of Chun Soft, Game Freak, Nintendo, and The Pokémon Company._**_ They belong to their rightful owners._**

* * *

><p>Someone once told me what it meant to be destined for greatness.<p>

…

"No! NO! Jovany! Get your ass gone! This is twisted!"

"Wait, what?"

"I can't wait around! We need to dip out, STAT."

"What about everyone else?"

"I think it's too late to help them now! Grab Topher, then let's bolt!"

"Alright, alright. S-sorry Topher, c'mere for a sec."

…

Someone asked me where I saw myself in the future.

They forgot to specify how far this future was. Maybe they neglected to mention it for a reason.

…

With Bryan ahead of me, one of my arms held Topher tightly against my chest, his forepaws over the same arm. Gingerly, I jogged through the narrow mud path. It took mere seconds for me to lose Bryan. I found someone else instead. It looked like a blue and black cat of some kind. Al's clothing was around it. From what Topher, this green and white creature in my arm, had told me, I knew to assume the worst. I failed to connect, because the amount of physical rules which this day had broken has surpassed my mind's ability to keep pace.

…

That was the day I realized how lackadaisical I was of the future and the past.

I was not adept at distinguishing what from the past had adequate utility in the future.

…

My skull and everything within it began to pulse. I winced at each flare of pain. Topher sensed my unrest.

"Jovany? Are you...?" He raised his small head, question unfinished. I think I knew what the element of his question was though.

"Yes, Jovany. Are you?" …

…

What was I bound for? What was I destined for if I always played my cards blindfolded?

If I was shown a situation where I could make myself useful, I'd be convinced that I have a role to play in this world.

Seeing as how I grew up as an orphan, dreams like these were really hard to believe in. I wanted to give up if there was nothing worth fighting for.

…

I gritted my teeth, that pressure only adding to the pain. Before Topher and I stood a boy who appeared years younger than both of us. I just couldn't describe how unnatural his expression was, if it was one at all. The nothingness in his face was almost disgusting to look at. For me, it was like staring into a mirror...

"Jovany, are you going to Scream...?" His raspy, lifeless voice made Topher shiver within my hold. The final word of his question was drawn out for a couple seconds.

"What's this supposed to be? Are you who Topher was talking about?" I tried to keep myself calm with this question. That became harder and harder to do with the increasing intensity of the headache.

"It's Drew. I think... I-I don't know who or what it really is." Explained Topher.

"If only you knew what I knew... But it's good that you don't. You especially, Jovany." The inhuman being started creeping toward me. The gleam of his eyes was petrifying.

"You're responsible for all of these transformations. Why can't you just tell us, Drew? Please... What is going on inside your head?" Topher pleaded to know more. Any answer to that was fine with me.

"Hm... Hmhmhmhm..." He chuckled, though I saw nothing of a smile upon his face. "From a world so close yet so far, I have come. Of that world my power soared to the limits of a demigod's. But, I was banished... …I will never die, Jovany. You and I are closer than you think. And as long as we are here on this day, the cycle will continue. The wave will roll... And I won't fall."

"I don't care what you say about me... You didn't answer Topher's question." I spoke on behalf of one of my only friends. I wouldn't let him perturb me. He was bluffing... However, he was still something out of a nightmare. With each step he took, I stepped back.

"You want an answer? Omniscience can't even tell me how many times I've answered this question... I can't say how many cycles we have seen, Jovany... Why have I come here? Why did I crash down upon your home? Why did I take _this_ form?" The distress in his tone became clearer with each passing moment as he raised his voice. He had my back nearly against the surface of the meteorite. I was cornered with disbelief and intrigue. "_WHY_ am I changing _YOU HUMANS? WHY _am I changing _YOUR WORLD? WHY DON'T YOU FIND THE ANSWERS, JOVANY? GO! FIND THEM! FIND ME, IF YOU CAN!"_

Even though my muscles tensed, I dropped Topher, who fortunately recovered gracefully enough to make a quick escape. The ghostly effigy of Drew seized both of my shoulders, his eyes reddening into two, crimson orbs.

I was paralyzed. His hold on me was unrelenting and driven with diabolical fury; an effort of the hellish, vindictive rage he had failed to sate. I tried to avoid eye contact as I began to feel his mind melt into my own. A torturous burning sensation leaped from the meteorite behind me into my spine and into the palms of my hands as I pressed the bare bottoms of them to the jagged, spatial material.

I began to see nothing but red; the red of his crimson gleam.

Events of all futures and all pasts escaped me as I was slung through a dreamscape of dimensional fabrics inside my own head. I screamed.

I screamed in the plane of all time and space... Was it Drew? Did the accompanying cry belong to Drew?

I repressed my own memories time and time again. All of my life's accomplishments, which were small at best, felt null and void. _I _felt null and void.

But I felt a presence like none other.

It latched to my imagination; my ability for divergent thinking. My mind flooded with visuals of bubbles... a tower... an ocean... a gear... no, many gears.

There was a masked face.

Eyes of red...

I heard the soft chime of a tiny bell.

And then I was awake.

…

My name is Jovany Aloe.

I was a meager five foot six, weighing at one hundred twenty pounds. I was malnourished, even though it felt like I ate properly enough. My hair was sleek and black, falling at the length of my shoulders. It was parted in the front. I wore a torn denim vest with a black shirt underneath and jeans which looked like they had been patched up.

I was the student with little meaning. I was distant. I didn't know how to act in this generation of society. I never pointed the finger at anyone, but if there was a scapegoat in all of this, it was my family.

From my years spent at the orphanage, I've learned a lot about my family tree. Sometimes I wished I hadn't been born with such an unsatisfiable inquisitiveness. And with that, I wish I hadn't known about my heritage.

They were the Jishnu: a Native American people with a lost legacy. I've been convinced that this is the reason for my last name. The Jishnu were a tribe devoted to healing. It sounded harmless, but it was far from that. Their rituals of curing involved satanic praise and spur-of-the-moment sacrifice. They were fanatical, driven with the duty to praise the stars in return for good health and fortune. I've learned that the blood spilled from the sacrifices was used to enchant cauldrons of slag. A second sacrifice would be made by pouring the molten slag into the mouth of an honorable unconscious warrior.

The Jishnu proclaimed that the "spilling of liquid starlight" into another sent a soul beyond the black sky. His or her warrior spirit persisted through the trials of the afterlife, only to be reborn upon worlds untouched by man. By a practice they called symbology, special procedures were carried out to ensure the thoroughness of the ceremony. These came in the form of abstract scriptures carved into stone.

The only known work of symbology to remain is the Obsidian Circle.

The liquid starlight practice died off many years ago, but rumors have been spread suggesting that it had faded as little as a generation ago. I did not believe them.

I was lucky to avoid being called a social disgrace. The Jishnu were not popular, nor were they a very large tribe. Historians excluded them from any realm of significance. I was convinced that this was one of the only reasons I wasn't ridiculed. But I was still practically homeless. The orphanage never explained to me the whereabouts of my mother and father, leaving me to jump to the conclusion that they were dead.

At the end of the day, I was a Jishnu. I was always a Jishnu. And who wanted to be associated with that? Autumnridge knew more about the tribe than the rest of the world, and Autumnridge was my birthplace. I never wanted to be here.

But I never wanted to leave...

…

I groaned, rolling to my chest upon a smooth floor with no imperfections in its texture. It felt like the most clean cut, well polished marble surface. Opening my eyes told me the falsehood of that. Jerking my head back, I gasped, startled by the floor of this empty place.

It was nothing. Nothing more than completely transparent matter with elaborate streaks of light running down a corridor of subspace. Pushing myself from this solid surface, my eyes found themselves wandering around this spacial world. Like something out of a sci-fi wonderland, I had been caught in an endless void. The distance around me was nauseating, as it made me feel like I was moving while standing still. Billions of beams of red radiance materialized from darkness, shooting into a horizon unknown. Beyond those beams was a dark funnel, slowly spiraling around the path of pure energy I stood upon...

I was able to deduce that these red beams flashed into existence from behind me. How far behind, I didn't know. I didn't even know if distance or time could be measured here. I didn't even know if there was oxygen to breathe.

This was the darkness from which the lights were born. It was blacker than black; something which made my entire body feel airy just looking at it. Fearful, I _t urned_ away, consumed with the opposite side. It was attracting me... Had it not, I would have marveled at the empyrean surroundings.

But I was being controlled. I heard footsteps.

They were my own.

With each step I took through this symbolical passage, I heard a high hum accompanied by a faint glitter. And these were the footsteps. Such an unusual dream...

I knew I was coming closer to the calling void.

The beams of red formed a helix around me as I approached, each of them focusing into one point far ahead of me to form a blinding crimson beacon. It enlarged...

No longer could I see the black vortex. Everything had gone red again. The crimson spiral absorbed me.

And I was gone again.

…

I never found what it meant to be destined for greatness. To do that, I needed to ask a different question: What was destiny? Did it involve being tossed into a wormhole of my own imagination?

Was destiny elucidated upon me? Or was I the one to elucidate my own destiny?

* * *

><p><em><strong>Post-AN: <strong>So yeah, a little shorter than usual. But a lot different. There isn't much clarity in what's going on with Jovany while he's in the void. And out of everyone thus far, he has the least known background. Basically, this is a chapter where it's kinda hard to understand what the hell is happening. I will say this: It is repeated later on in the series when characters have picked up on how and why things are happening to them and their world. _

_Wave: Endemic branches off into another story here. That's Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: EoS Elucidation.  
><em>


	16. Testing Bonds

**TESTING BONDS**

**_Note:_**_ Been away for a bit. College and all. I'll do my best to keep up with the fan fiction business. I felt pretty good about this chapter, but I also feel like I rushed it. The compromise there is that when I start writing, I write fast. There might be a typo or two or nineteen that I missed. I shouldn't proofread these at four in the morning though. More cooldown and plot development on the way here. ... I feel like I should have more to say after being gone for kind of a while, but I dunno. o.o; I'll say more next time! I'm tired~._

**_Disclaimer:_**_ I don't claim possession over characters (Pokémanz and stuff!) originating from the franchises of Chun Soft, Game Freak, Nintendo, and The Pokémon Company._**_ They belong to their rightful owners._**

* * *

><p>My own sanity was a cable connecting fact and fiction. Under the tension of these two concepts pressing into one another, I felt it begin to contort and bend like a frail fiber. What good was rationality if the laws of the universe failed to properly apply to our establishment? Our way of life?<p>

This wasn't something we had been meant to live through; to see with our own eyes. Each and every one of us born on this world knew ourselves individually as a human being. Nothing more, nothing less. We were human. How we perceived this world was unique to our own species. How we would act and evolve was set in motion from the very moment of our conception.

Whether we were creations of God based off of the design of Adam and Eve, advanced monkeys, or an amnesic alien race, nothing could have prepared us for the transformation of our own bodies, especially not a conversion into our creations.

We were living the imagination of a child.

A blood red carpet weaved from the other side crossed its paranormal threshold, unfolding to show us the one way path to our corporeal shift. He told me that this was a wave rolling into a beach I assumed to be murky with the astral fog of ambiguity. No... He was the shoreline. Humanity was the wave which had, or was about to, crash upon him. We were many waves waiting to crash. But he would still be there.

He was the specter of or within Drew Maire. The shoreline.

We, the first to crash, were now receding into our vast ocean of humanity, carrying Drew's grains of sand as we left. We would return to our homes; our hive... And the waves would only come again. We were infected.

If only I had known this at the time.

But I was coming closer to that... We were coming closer to it...

…

Nickolas, Patricia, Al, Emelina, and I were left here. Bryan had managed to escape, and Jovany was nowhere to be seen. Drew was not here... but he also was. He was within all of us.

I was awake.

The experience preceding this moment has left me physically traumatized in a way only eyes can describe. Obviously, trauma was not limited to my body... I've seen my fair share of unforgettable events today.

To be human was all I knew. It was all we knew. And now we were not human...

I was afraid to leave my friends. They were strewn about the casual spot; the Obsidian Circle... Emelina and Patricia were closest, while Nickolas was on the path. I wouldn't know how to answer someone if they had asked how I could recognize my friends in their state. There was something else of mine playing an important part in this. Something other than sight. Was it smell...? My only answer was another question.

A fleeting wind alarmed me of my surroundings. It was enough to move my focus elsewhere, the recipient of which was the coming dark of night. For intents and purposes, we transformed into animals. I understood the technical term. Pokémon. We were Pokémon, however I failed to see how a coyote or other nocturnal predator could distinguish that fact. We had to move, and the only way to do that was to be anything other than unconscious. Or dead. Now that raised a strange point that I would have to address to the Circle...

Where would we go?

...Slowly but surely, my short legs brought me back to the center of the Obsidian Circle. I was clueless. I had no idea where to begin... I decided that I would start with Emelina, who had transformed into a six-tailed, scarlet fox. Even I recognized the Pokémon, but there was no way I could remember its name. I felt I had a long way to go when it came to identifying myself.

Carefully, I nudged Emelina's cheek with my fore paw. She wasn't necessarily buried in her own clothing, as Patricia seemed to be last I checked. I regretted not checking a second time.

"Topher?"

My heart shot up what felt like an inch or two. I spun around, finding that a bit trickier than it should've been, due to my four-legged structure. Patricia was awake, standing before me. I raised my head to her. Right away, I failed to connect. I hadn't realized this prior to now, but she was no ordinary Pokémon.

"Pat! You scared me...!" I replied, my heart returning to its proper spot.

"I'm sorry. What the heck happened here? ...What happened to me?!" She exclaimed with a tad of a delayed reaction, looking down at her stubby hands. I felt like I knew something that she didn't. What I meant had to do with her form. I've been on the internet quite a lot, so I know about some of the popular memes. One, in particular, has to do with something called "mudkipz" and how someone "lieks" them... So she was changed into a mudkip... Was she? Was this mudkip? There was no way. She stood on two legs, and, if I was seeing correctly, had a small blue ponytail on the back of her head. Her locket had been left around her neck.

"We turned into Pokémon..." I said, letting that drill its way into her mind. It sounded painful, but when you tell someone something like this after he or she has just given his or herself visual evidence, I don't think there was any other way to put it. She didn't respond right away. She was absorbed in her own appearance. I understood the feeling. I had trouble moving around. All I really knew about myself was that I had white fur, a flower on my face, and I was the size of a baby possum.

"...Really." Patricia replied, calm and collected as ever. There was a catch 22 here. It seemed like this was worth completely loosing your mind over. Untrue. What possible reaction existed for this kind of transformation? Loosing one's mind was not dramatic enough. Thankfully, Patricia was too distracted for that. Despite her distraction, she spotted and identified Emelina. "Emelina's still out." She approached our cheerleader friend. Well... I didn't think she'd be practicing any routines anymore. Or at least anytime soon.

"Nick and Al got hit too. I don't know where Bryan and Jovany went." I followed Patricia, who was poking at Emelina's side.

"Oh..." She said. I didn't expect her to have much to say. I was adjusting to this body at a quicker, smoother rate now. Previously, my encounter with the Circle in this form fell short of me being eloquent enough to warn them. I had my regrets. "Emi... Wake up."

Emelina was never asleep. That was what I thought. I hadn't fallen asleep when I was converted into this thing, so I didn't think anyone else actually fell unconscious. Maybe. Heck if I knew how that worked though. I would've guessed that everyone was different, and then everyone was destined to become something totally different as well. I hoped to God that wasn't about to happen to Autumnridge.

"Emelina, can you hear me?" Patricia spoke quietly. I think that volume of voice was all that was required, given Emelina's new senses. Maybe. It turned out that she was coming through.

"Huaah, where are you?!" Emelina was frightened. She refused to open her eyes, likely still convinced that the phantom was tormenting her.

"It's okay, Emi! It's just us, Topher and Pat. We're here for you, we're here. Settle down." I assured her, not assured myself that it would work... It did.

"To-Toph... Pat...?" Her voice was much softer now. Each of us paused for the oncoming sirens of ambulances and firetrucks. My only thoughts on that went right back to Al's father. He knew of the transformations, which meant the police force knew. So maybe those weren't emergency vehicles at all. The brotherhood was after the answers now.

...

"Did you hurt yourself?"

"I didn't see Topher's stuff. I got my ankle stuck."

"And it's still hurting?"

"It's not like I don't break or twist something every year, man."

The two voices were almost unfamiliar, were it not for the context. Al was always talking about how he injured himself here and there. And I doubted Bryan returned with a cavalry of officers to save the day. Nickolas and Al were on their way back. That was the wisest decision anyone could have made. There was nowhere else to go. I didn't think they knew about Pat and Emelina, but they knew I transformed. And who are two former humans going to go to in a time like this? My only answer to that was another former human.

"Pat... Pat?" Emelina lifted her head slowly to her friend, looking as though she had just had a terrible dream. She didn't know the half of it. "Eep... You look so strange, Pat."

"Uh, thank you." Patricia frowned, moving Emelina's unneeded top out of the way. "How are you feeling? I'm not the only one who had a makeover."

At this moment, Nickolas and Al joined us. My gaze was fixed on the two as they stared back into the Obsidian Circle side by side, frozen with what looked like horror. There wasn't anything scary about turning into a Pokémon, honestly. When you considered the pain which apparently accompanied it, that's where the fear factor arrived to crash the party. And then there was Drew...

Habitually, I would've announced to everyone how cute both Al and Nickolas looked. Nick turned into the most adorable gray chinchilla of some kind. He still had his glasses and hat on. As if he couldn't get any cuter. Al was still handsome, of course. He was transformed into a bright blue lion cub with a black back half. I've never seen these Pokémon before, but maybe I just didn't keep up with the modern generations.

"Whaaat..." Al started, looking back to Nick, then returning his attention to Emelina and Patricia. "What the hell happened to us?!"

"Topher says we're all Pokémon now." Answered Patricia, which gave me an unwanted spotlight. I felt the eyes of my friends refuse to stray as I turned my head to the side, standing directly in front of the meteorite now.

"U-um, I'm sorry. I don't mean to break it to you guys the hard way, but... That's what I was told. Zatch's brother and sister already changed, and so did Vince. I don't know what else is going on, I promise." I tried my best to explain all I knew. All I wanted to do was just go home and curl up under my blankets, then have Cruce come along telling me he had recovered, and then I'd turn back to normal and he would make me a cup of tea... My friends gathered close together as we normally do here at this little, hidden landmark within a truly magical place. I scanned each of them... I never thought this was how we would all see each other.

Really, I never could have ever imagined that a Monday could be this bad.

"So what now?" Asked Emelina, shifting at the ground with one of her front paws. Her tails and ears were understandably low... I don't think any of us could have asked a better question then and there.

"I'm not going home like this." Nickolas's large ears were flattened by his hat, but I could tell they were splayed with his own disappointment. It was strange how we could already essentially communicate in the fashion animals did... He had crossed his small arms, looking away from the Circle. "I'll be swatted out with a broom."

"Yeah, and I'm not gonna sit around being a Pokémon. I'unno 'bout you guys, but I want out of this mess. Now!" Al stepped forth, aggressive in his own approach to this situation.

"But Al..." Emelina started, keeping her focus to the ground. "What are we going to do?"

"...Mmgh." Al grunted in response, looking away. It appeared as though each of us was ashamed to face one another. "You know, we could have all avoided this..."

"Huh?" I looked back up to him.

"This! This whole... shit storm. Y'know, I'm not blaming anyone, but this is unbelievable. We shouldn't have come here today." Al continued, mood not necessarily at its highest point. Although this manner of reaction from him was to be expected. "Okay, look." He lifted his head once again, checking to see he had our attention. "I say we find a safe place to stay for the night, then we go after the sadistic fuck who did this to us."

"Whoa. Whoa, wait wait wait." Nickolas intervened, raising both paws. "I'll agree with the first part, but the latter? Al, who do you think did this to us?"

"I don't know! I don't know, alright?! A ghost, Drew, what the hell ever!" Al retorted violently, giving all of us the impression that his decisions were to be made without debate or question. I didn't feel comfortable with that.

"Al, don't yell at him..." I spoke softly... I really didn't like my friends yelling at each other.

"Topher, don't start. You came here and... inFECTED us, y'know?!" I winced at his response.

"Hey, that's uncalled for. Don't be mad with little Topher. You just said you wouldn't point the finger." Emelina stood up for me. I would have to remind myself to thank her for that later.

"What, you guys... you don't get how fucked this is? Look at us! Look! If we don't figure something out, we're probably going to be stuck like this, and I have no idea what you're all thinking, but I'm not for it. I'm not playing any kid's stupid game! If Drew really did this, I'm going to that hospital and giving the guy a piece of my mind, if it isn't already jacked up like everything else."

"Your idea of fixing this is to go to a hospital and beat up a kid who's in a coma. Seriously?" Nickolas scoffed. As smart as he was, this wasn't a very intelligent choice. Al snarled, stepping away from Nickolas in a pivotal sweep motion. I swear, I saw something dark in his eyes. It manifested as a visible array of yellow sparks flashing at his tail before flickering up through the rest of his body. And in that moment, he gave Nickolas a piece of his mind; a swift leap knocked Nick back a few feet. The girls gasped. I would've, had I not been dumbfounded by Al's volatile actions here. I was shocked. Had he lost all of his self control?

"Al! What're you doing?!" Emelina shouted. "You're going to hurt him! Stop it!" It looked like Al'd already accomplished hurting Nickolas. He wasn't moving very much.

"What's gotten into you?" Patricia added.

"I'm tired of this smart-ass. We just lost our identity as humans and he's going to treat it like it's nothing." Al gave his curt reply, turning back to the girls.

"...Well fuck you too." Nickolas sat up, his hat now concealing his eyes. I saw Al begin to spin around. Anticipating this, it looked like Emelina ran into the fray at the right, or wrong, time. Patricia threw an arm out, though failed to call out to her friend.

"Stop!" She shouted into Al's face, having swung around to close the small gap between Al and Nick. With this abrupt shout came a bright light from her mouth. It looked like a flash of fire. Al was unfortunate enough to take the heat of this quick burst. He yelped, facing away from Emelina in a quick surge of pain... As his eyes met hers once again, he was not angry. He was still frustrated, but now the brunt of sorrow was clear in his face. He watched the smaller Pokémon before him—Emelina—with an expression of disbelief. I couldn't believe it myself. This was the Pokémon equivalent to a slap in the face. Emelina just slapped Al. "What are you doing?!" She asked, her tone riddled with her own variation of anger. "Just... what are you doing?"

There was no response. Head hung low, Al left us, neglecting to retrieve his own belongings. It wasn't like he had any use for them anyway. Heart pounding at my chest, I watched our friend walk into the narrow pathway, leaving the Obsidian Circle, as well as our own Circle.

Patricia moved to aid Nickolas, holding an arm out for him to grasp. Downtrodden with anger, he refused. He took it upon himself to stand back up. From there, he said nothing... He didn't look in our direction. He simply watched the narrow path Al walked down.

"Is something else happening to us, Topher?" Emelina faced me, asking calmly as can be. "I don't think Al would normally do that."

"But you saw him just now. He knows what he did." Patricia made a valid point. Al wouldn't have left in the image of shame like that if he didn't have a sense of rationality. Something else was going on. It was a deeper transformation, because, despite the reaction, Al's breakdown felt very out of character.

"I couldn't tell you... I know as much as you do right now. But that doesn't mean I didn't learn something new just now. Maybe we really are changing even more than we know." I hated being pessimistic, or delivering bad news. Truth be told, I didn't feel at fault, even though Al had dubbed me a scapegoat. I was too concerned with Cruce to be upset about anything else.

"I don't think standing around here will help anything." Emelina took the initiative. I certainly wasn't able to, translating into my failure to do so. "I don't like the idea of going home like this. If I have to tough it out, I will. For now, any better ideas?"

"Yes. W-well, maybe. Zatch's house..." I suggested, turning away once again. "Zatch's mother didn't give them any grief. They were already Pokémon."

"Tophie, that's intruding..."

"Ehm, I can't think of a better plan..." I frowned, now facing up to Emelina. For once, I didn't know how pathetic I looked.

"...Hmm..." I figured Emi would've tapped her chin with her finger if she still could. "I'm sure anyone would sympathize with us. How could you not make room for little Pokémons?"

"Easy. They could snap and throw you to the ground." Nickolas finally spoke, eyes shielded, arms crossed.

"...Ugh... I'm sure he'll be alright... Listen, guys. We're already down a few Circle members. I know I haven't made much time for you, but now I'm determined to help out. And I think we need to start moving. I don't want to lose any more of you out here." Emelina responded, though I was certain Nickolas wasn't concerned with Al's well being.

...

I have never been more thankful for Emelina than that night. She brought us through that dark moment better than I ever could. It looked like we were falling apart without Cruce, but I knew that, without Cruce, the Circle wouldn't just collapse. It needed a trigger, like anything—any group of friends or larger cliques. As unfair as it was, becoming Pokémon was a... uhm... super... effective trigger, and if that wasn't enough, we had just hypothesized that the conversion was still at large within ourselves. Speaking of large, I was in amazement at the world around me. It was getting darker, though I still saw how huge my home had become. It was like I was a baby once again, and everything was so much greater and grander in size than it seemed. That said, the wilderness was all that much more terrifying to me. I stuck close to Emelina and Pat. Nickolas did follow us, though he was distant. I knew he had some hard feelings about Al, but he was never going to admit that to us. Or anyone. That was just how he was. Patricia was about as quiet, but even she talked about her own feelings. I knew that we all trusted one another. That was being tested today. I don't think we've passed with flying colors. We haven't completed it yet. I assumed it would be running for as long as we weren't human.

Sooner than I thought, we were on the sidewalks of Autumnridge. Our ability to remain stealthy was questionable. A multitude of cars passed us by. I had always felt like I was being watched by the drivers of other cars. If that were ever true, it was now. Maybe. M-maybe they couldn't see us. We were awfully small.

"Wait, did we actually come out here to publicly display ourselves?" Nickolas commented. It sounded like his mood was shaping up. Not a moment too soon after he spoke, a motorcyclist cruised by us at a slow enough speed to identify—well, I guess just get a good look at—us. I saw his head turn in our direction.

"W-we're doing a good job of that." I sank a little bit.

"I think we need to hurry it up then." Emelina announced to us, rushing on ahead. "C'mon, Tophie. I don't know where Zatch's house is!"

I probably squeaked as a response before actually giving chase. She was way too fast for me to keep up, and she was moving at a basic trot. Emelina had the most dexterity out of all of us, given she was a cheerleader. I didn't realize that involved practicing prancing around as a vuplix on the streets.

Oh.

Vulpix! That was the name of it!

"Hold on!" Nick called out as Patricia took off in pursuit. She was lucky she managed to keep a bipedal form. Nickolas did also, but his legs were short, if not nonexistent. It looked like he would have done better on all fours, but that wasn't about to happen. "Emelina, you didn't think this through!"

"What?!" She slowed herself down, looking back at Nick and I. "Having trouble?"

"Trouble?! I don't know if you realized this, but I can barely walk!"

"Um." Patricia interrupted this lovely conversation across a good distance of twenty feet. She tugged at one of Emelina's tails, alerting her of the pair of strangers in front of her. Yes, they were human. Yes, they looked baffled. I almost wish I could've seen the look on Emelina's face if I hadn't worried for her safety. For all of us. Luckily these two men decided to pass us by, giving each of us nothing but the kind of look that made you feel like a clown. I think Nick lowered his hat over his eyes again...

We didn't say anything to each other for a few moments following that. Nickolas and I caught up to the girls, only due to their stillness.

"Shall we go on TV at this rate, Emelina?" That was another of Nick's remarks. He was feeling much better.

"Quiet, you." She retorted, ears flat. "The one time I get to be on TV won't be when I'm like this. I'll make sure of it if I have to."

Suddenly, my night vision kicked on. There was a driveway in front of Emelina with a pair of cars parked in front of the garage. I recognized the truck on the right. It was Zack's. This was irrefutably the Hummings' residence. It was well kept; a trimmed lawn and not a single bush or tree serving as an eyesore. The only quirk about their lawn was the inclusion of ornaments. They had the stereotypical pink flamingo. Except it had sunglasses or something. And it was spinning a record with its foot. I thought it was cute, and pretty appropriate. It was sad how the flamingo was actually larger than us now.

"...Well? Shall we?" Patricia eyed each of us over. Emelina nodded, being the first to head up the walkway. The old light above the garage flicked on. Those things were sensitive if they could pick up our presence. Each of us followed her to the front door. Unlike a lot of the neighbors here, the Hummings' didn't have a screen door. That helped us out a lot, because stupid little tasks like knocking were about a hundred times more difficult right now. Emelina and Pat stood on a floor mat reading "Welcome, yo". Yes, they were a very strange family... Even stranger was the absence of music. You always heard music when you passed by the Hummings' place. It didn't matter if their studio door was shut tight. They were loud. But they were good.

Patricia was the candidate for knocking at the front door. If Bryan was with us, he would've slammed his head on the wooden surface a few times... He uh... he was weird...

…

We began to hear voices on the other side. I'll tell you, they sounded upbeat for what was happening to us, possibly around town.

"Door! Door door door!"

"You're not serious. You're going to let someone in...?"

"Yes?"

"Why would you do that, Zeldster? We've got a pretty nasty cold that we don't want to let anyone else catch."

"Are you kidding me... I can't reach the door." There were a few thumps.

"Haha! You look so natural~!"

"Shut your mouse hole."

"Thaaaaaat's kinky."

"WHAT are you kids doing? You're not getting the door, are you?! We can't let people see us!"

"We're not going to open it. We're just gonna see who it is through that little lens thingy."

"How?"

"...Zatch, hop on a sec."

"'The crap...?"

"Here. Can you get up on me?"

"...Kinkyyyy."

"Shut up, Dildo. Just try and climb on."

"Um, Brother, what's a dildo?" Zelda cut back in.

"You ask that now?! Now's-Zatchers, what're you doing?"

"I need to get speed." Zatch's voice sounded a little more distant.

About a second following that, there came a loud thud at the door.

"AHH! MY NOSE!"

"God dang, B. God dang."

"You okay?"

"I'll be fine... I... can't see through the peep hole."

"Hah, kinky."

"That is my joke... Hrp!"

"Don't freakin' jump on me!"

"This sucks. Look, whoever's on the other side of the door probably already knows we're failing at opening it. Maybe they just left. Let's just take a peek this way, alright?"

The knob turns. The door opens back at an agonizingly slow speed, light pouring onto the front porch.

"Son of a..." Zack speaks, now with more clarity. I couldn't help but hop a tad when I heard compilation of thuds.

"WHU-GAH! What was that?!" Zatch and Zack bickered for a few moments as Zelda continued pulling the door back, peeking her head around. She was still a little mouse; a pichu, as I heard from her. Her large ears nearly flapped over as she tilted her head at the four of us.

"Did we miss something?" Asked Emelina, three or four seconds of hesitation preceding that.

…

_I don't know if my father would accept me like this. I feel like I should detest him for it, but I don't know that man as much as I should._

_I know my mother would do her best to help. She loves me no matter what. Even if it means I've turned into a large insect of some sort. At least I'm pretty, according to Zelda._

_I know Drew would cherish this... After all... He might have done this..._

_If this gets out of control, I hope everyone else has luck with their families. I wouldn't want to turn into something, then get rejected by my own blood, if I still even have blood. Whaddya know, I've gone and transformed. I'm about to test my father..._

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><p><em><strong>Post-AN: <strong>Kinky. I'm developing a love for the Hummings...es... Hummingses. o_O  
><em>


	17. Mother Father

**MOTHER. FATHER.**

**_Note: _**_Yes yes, Wave's still going. I have way too much fun writing this story as it is. Funny story, I'm getting into creative writing in college, so I'm gonna pick up more tips and stuff. I probably need it after all.  
><em>

_So yeah, thanks for the reviews, folks. That's a nice thing to have. Tanon and Pichufan! Much obliged to have you guys keeping up with the story from the start. I've been delaying stuff for a while now, not just because of school, but because of other creative outlets. Still working on music, and that's fun as hell. Like I said, I'll keep at this though. 'Cause it's great. Yay.  
><em>

**_Disclaimer:_**_ I don't claim possession over characters originating from the franchises of Chun Soft, Game Freak, Nintendo, and The Pokémon Company, or something._**_ They belong to their rightful owners._**

_TYPO__PHOBIA AWAY!_**_  
><em>**

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><p>Vince here.<p>

I finally arrived at the farm. Navigating around Autumnridge's woodland canopy was only half of the challenge. There was no way I could have ever been prepared to face the second half of that. So I didn't. Initially, I wanted to just be alone and lay down on my bed. Now, sure, my father would have barged in lecturing me that feeling sorry for everything wasn't the way to handle crises. That man had a powerful work ethic. I understood completely. It was something to respect about him. But if there was ever a time where I felt absolutely powerless, it was now.

Ambiguity aside, the opposite was also true. I felt a new kind of power. Rather than a figurative sense, I referred to this sensation in a more literal manner. Zelda, Zatch's little Pokémon-obsessed sister, told me I have some pretty amazing capabilities. I believed her, but I wasn't sure how or if reality was malleable enough for abilities like that, namely time travel. I needed to understand how "Celebi" worked. And to do that, I probably needed to back it up a little, researching Pokémon thoroughly. The problem with that was that no website was ever going to tell me how to use my powers. But, at very least, I could get a glimpse of what kind of stuff I could really do... But this was real life. Was fantasy really as accurate as reality? Or... at least, Drew's fantasy.

Gah, I didn't want to believe it, and I sure as hell knew that my mother and father would dismiss that idea the split second it left my lips. It was difficult enough to believe that a tiny meteorite was capable of making a second brain, and...

Wait...

That second brain... That's not Drew, but it settled in Drew's body somewhere. Was that second brain the cause of these apparitions? Furthermore, was it the cause of the transformations?

I had been flying around the forest getting nothing accomplished, aside from spreading the sickness to my best friend's family, if that counts. I felt it was time to actually do something with a little more meaning. I needed to go to the hospital Drew was taken to.

First, being freed from the binds of humanity, as reluctant as I was to actually think that, I had to establish my existence once again. I was still here! I hadn't been kidnapped or anything like that, and I was sure my parents had already assumed that Vince Maire was never going to come back home on his own. At least, it wasn't a very likely turn of events. Well, even less likely is that event itself plus this new appearance of mine. Nonetheless, I was at the front door, ready to ring the doorbell as any normal visitor would, and then Zig-Zag would have gone off on a twenty-second barking spree.

I only knew that much. No amount of Pokémon power could have told me how my parents would have reacted. Here was I saying I understood how to use those powers, and, again, I did not... at all.

Hovering as though it was second nature, I pressed the dimly lit doorbell button. It was one of those actions that, in retrospect, I had regretted doing. Head low, I just kept my small hand on the button...

Zig-Zag began barking as though he had no idea what the sound was. He was a good indicator that the old thing was still working.

The sound and sight of the knob turning made my heart race. I swallowed spit, knowing that the moment I was seen by my father, I would never have been Vince to him again. However, were it my mother...

The door was pushed forward. I swung back a few inches in midair, awaiting some kind of parental figure... if they were still alright with that title.

…

"No way! More Pokémon?!" Zelda remarked with the largest smile I have ever seen on her face... Oh, but she did have a new face. Still, I didn't doubt her ability to show that much glee as a human.

"Zelda...?" Emelina leaned in, incredulous. Out of all of us, only I knew what had happened to the Hummings family. Vince and I were here when they transformed. The front door swung all the way open, showing the Circle (or who showed up) a similar fate. 3DJ was Zatch, Zelda, and Zack. Respectively, Pikachu, Pichu, and I believe Raichu. "Oh my God."

"You're... What... you're..." Zatch failed to articulate his astonishment. He didn't need to clarify it, I could see it in his face. It was much like Zelda. No one needed to be human to have expression.

"We're Topher's friends! You know, the Circle?" Emelina paused. I could see why. How could she be sure that these three were who I knew they were? She didn't know. "W-wait, are you... uhm... the DJs?"

"Yyyyes... We are." Zack replied, frozen with disbelief.

"Little awkward." Pat commented, eyes shifting to one direction nervously.

"We were told this might be a good place to go." Emelina continued, frowning at the sight of the three mouse Pokémon. I had told everyone that the three—I think their parents were infected at this rate—had been changed. I didn't say what they turned into exactly. It didn't matter. Seeing someone as a human being one moment, and then basically an animal the next, is impossible to prepare for. "T-Topher told us..."

"Mhmm. Only before I was hit with the infection myself." I spoke up, walking to Emelina's side and eying the three over. Only a couple hours ago, they saw me as Topher Reigh. Now, all of them were taller than me in their altered forms, including Zelda. With her, it was fairly marginal.

"Whoooa! You're a Shaymin, Topher!" Zelda fascinated, clapping her tiny paws together. "Now you and Vince are both legendary Pokémon!"

I felt another instance of all eyes on me. I was like Vince? What did that mean? The only connection Vince and I had was that one of our relatives was put to sleep by the meteorites. Did that really mean that we were destined to be special Pokémon?

"Good grief, did you all really walk here? C'mon, get inside, we don't want the world seeing us like this." Said Zack, waving us in with one arm whilst standing with his back against the door. It wasn't like a few of Autumnridge's residents hadn't already noticed us on the way here.

"Absolutely!" Emelina agreed, hurrying into the abode with no questions asked. Patricia followed suit at a relatively equal pace, while Nickolas simply walked in, eyes shielded with his fedora. I was the last to enter, and with that I noticed Zack shut the door and make his way quickly down the hallway.

"Yo, Mom! Dad! We got company here!" I heard him trail off into what began as a heated conversation. It cooled quickly at the mentioning of us being Pokémon. As his older brother went to speak with his parents, Zatch brought us to the living room, 3DJ's small studio open and a bit messy, what with the pizza box from earlier still there.

"Topher, Topher, Topher... Maaan, I thought you were morph-proof for a minute." Zatch chuckled, shaking his head with his arms crossed over his chest. He was leaning back against the couch.

"I'm not that lucky, I guess... Listen, after I parted with Vince, I saw Drew again." I was speaking softly and without any intention of involuntarily insulting Drew. I felt like he could be anywhere. He could be watching all of us. "He said that my mind could ward off his 'infection.'"

"Wait, you actually saw him? Like... in the sense that...?" Zatch expected me to continue his thoughts. I knew exactly what he meant.

"Yes, in the sense that we could, and did, have a conversation. He was physically there, I think... I was talking to him. One on one. Right after Vince left."

"He came to me like that, too" Nickolas added, arms crossed and head raised now. "He told me some pretty strange crap about how I was arrogant and condescending."

"You too?" Questioned Emelina, at first her gaze locked on Nick before it moved to Pat. "Pat and I both heard him tell us that we needed him; that we had flaws too. I-I know I have flaws, but what does it have to do with this infection of his?"

"He said he wanted to fix that." Patricia recalled, holding onto her silver locket with both hands. "He wanted to fix the reality we're caged in. He wanted to fix humanity."

Silence. This concept transcended reality. It exceeded my understanding. I was positive that was true for the rest of us in this building. It almost couldn't be denied anymore: Drew wanted to change us into Pokémon... Maybe. Maybe not "Drew", but this phantom of Drew.

I had other questions. Drew knew the answer to them. He told me that my cousin's mind was locked within another. And that mind was mine. I had to figure this out for Cruce. The only way I could think to do that, or even start getting somewhere, was heading over to the hospital and asking if I could see Cruce. But how could a Pokémon get in? Unless... D-Drew was in the same hospital. Would that mean, since everyone there is close to Drew's body, that the transformations actually began there?

"This is so sci-fi, it's ridiculous. We need to try and get to the hospital before this gets out of hand." Zatch suggested.

"What are we going to do there?" Asked Nick, removing his glasses for a moment and clearing the lenses on his own chest fur. "And how do we get there?" He asked again, placing the glasses back over his eyes. "There are some... uh, trivial problems."

"Well first off, I think we need Vince with us. As far as I know, Vince was the first one to be transformed. So Drew might have started with him, I dunno." Zatch shrugged, his point not as clear as he intended it to be.

"Sorry to interrupt, but..." From around the corner in the hallway, two Raichus walked side by side. One was a bit taller than the other, and had a darker orange coat of fur. The shorter was likely Zack. It was almost silly how it all appeared. If these transformations were consistent, there would have been three Raichus in the house. It made sense, however. Out of all 800 something Pokémon, a Raichu would probably have given birth to a Pichu. "Have you kids seen the news?" The older Pokémon, Mr. Maire, asked.

"The news? That's a strange place to start, Dad." Zatch smirked, rubbing the back of his head.

"Y'know, I should actually address you kids a little better, right?" The father chuckled, showing the Circle the unchanging spirit of the Hummings family. Despite having seen it earlier—3DJ working even though they had transformed—it was as refreshing as ever. When one thought about a metamorphosis like this, it was easy to be negative. It hurt like nothing else on this world, maybe... And it changed your life. It was traumatic. But at least you were still alive! "It's good to see all of you are okay, for the most part. You're in one piece, even if that single piece is substantially smaller, right?"

"I agree! It's good to see everyone's—uhm... Well it's not 'good', per se, but none of us have been hurt..." Emelina attempted to articulate her thoughts. Patricia finished them for her.

"We were in pain, but we're all feeling fine now."

"Looks like it. As for the news, Autumnridge's local hospital has been temporarily condemned. It's been put under quarantine." The Hummings' father explained, striking a profound amount of shock in me. A quarantine would have meant that some kind of disease was spreading more quickly than a hospital could deal with or contain. I didn't know about any current "down-to-earth" illnesses that surpassed the ability of medical facilities. The only thing that came to mind was the Pokémon infection.

Maybe this had started at the hospital after all.

"That doesn't sound very good." Emelina pointed out the obvious. "If Drew was hospitalized there, we've got a big connection."

"So are we all thinking the same thing?" I asked the crowd.

"You all think Drew is really the root cause of our transformations?" Asked Nick.

"I don't think it's Drew. But I think he's the only person involved. And by person I mean physical being. Unlike the ghost or whatever possessing him." Zatch seemed to agree with my thoughts. "We're already infected. Dad, would you and Mom be alright if we headed on down to the hospital tomorrow?"

"And see all the other Pokémon people?!" Zelda added on, seemingly more intrigued with the idea of these specific transformations.

"Hang on, we don't know for sure what this quarantine is for. Maybe it is that 'infection', but maybe it's not. Either way, you've got no clue how dangerous it is out there now that you're all—now that we're all Pokémon." Mr. Hummings reasoned in the way a parental figure should. I respected that, but no parent had the wisdom to really analyze this entire thing. It felt like a childish sense of adventure was the prerequisite.

"Furthermore," Began another, slightly shorter and well-groomed Raichu; a particular femininity about this one. Mrs. Hummings. She stopped beside her husband. There were the three Raichus... "You may spread this infection yourselves, if that's what we're dealing with."

"Long story short, we're probably going to end up turning humans—God I feel weird not being a part of the human club anymore—ehm, turning humans into Pokémon." Said Zatch.

"Right... Should we be careful then?" Emelina asked.

"I think that's a given." Nick responded.

"I would think we need to stay out of sight still. Maybe that's also pretty obvious, but if the hospital's been condemned, officials know that this is spreading like an infection. They know it's a disease, and that means they may try to contain us." Zack explained. He had made a very good point, but this was all still assuming that the infection down at the hospital had something to do with the transformations. "So not only do we need to be careful if we're doing this... We need to stay as low as possible."

Another few seconds of silence. The tone of anticipation in Zack's voice put everyone in the same state of mind. I could tell. Each of us had the same question.

"You're doing this tonight, then?" Mr. Hummings asked, his head facing away from us slightly. "I'm not sure if you're aware, but none of us can drive."

"Sure we can! I'll steer, and Zatch can be the gas and break pedals." Zack offered. I didn't think Zatch would have liked that idea. He didn't.

"That's not going to happen." Zatch retorted, looking away. "I say we just hike it there."

"Oh, can I come? I want to see what's up!" Zelda pleaded, her paws folded together as she looked up at her mother and father.

"...Well only if Zack and Zatch know what they're doing." Her father sighed, reluctant, yet unsure of any other options. It seemed like he felt that we were devoted. Don't get me wrong, I wanted to get to the bottom of things. But I was more confused than anything. I kind of just wanted to take it easy, but... Not if it meant I could have been helping Cruce all along.

"You better be careful. I don't want to hear about a group of Pokémon getting snagged off of the streets. And don't go through the woods! It's dangerous there at night, you all know that." Mrs. Hummings warned us. The only real danger there were the skinhead gangs and hobos, but I had heard that the wildlife was a bit threatening as well.

"We'll be okay! We can fight 'em off now." Zelda exclaimed, jabbing into nothing as though she were fighting. "We're Pokémon, so we have powers."

...Well... I'd really love to know how to use those powers.

"We'll keep an eye on her." Zack started before turning back to us. "Let's move. We got stuff to do."

"You have to open the door again..." Nick commented, staring blankly at the closed front door.

"...And you wanted us to drive there?" Zatch teased Zack, who only responded with a disgruntled groan.

…

Thank heaven above. It was my mother.

She and Zig-Zag eyed me cautiously. I was an alien. I wasn't a person, and you never expected anything other than a person to knock at your door. And with that, my own mother couldn't look at me like I was a human being—like I was her son, because I wasn't her son. I was this... Whatever this was.

I knew it was Celebi, but what was it to her...?

If this was to drag on any longer, that door would be closed in no time. I was the first to speak. I had to be.

"Mom...?" ...Because really, what else could I have said?

"Excuse me?" She asked. She did not move. Zig-Zag didn't either. I could tell he wanted me to set down so that he could go about sniffing me. I was still hovering, but maybe that had made me look a bit less human—a bit less Vince.

"Mom, it's me, Vince. It's Vince..." I repeated this, but the message wasn't getting through. It wasn't clear, and how could it be? For some reason, I don't think this was the same thing as before. By that, I mean I don't think my mother could see that I was Vince Maire. Zatch could, but there was something more to it than... than this. There was something burning, or even boring, away at his mind. Something drew him to me... guh, Drew, I didn't mean to say it like that, I just...

"What are you?" She said, some kind of horror present in her face. She didn't see me as who I'd told her I was.

I took a deep breath.

"I'm not really a human... I know. I'm a Pokémon. It's not that easy to explain. I don't know what to say..." I didn't know what to say, sure. But I knew what my own mother would do before she had done it.

She didn't respond. She closed her eyes before doing the same for the door. It was not a slam. It was a slow transaction, almost gentle, but it hurt. My eyes were fixed on the wooden "obstacle" before me. Could I have opened the door and simply gone inside? Maybe. Did I want to? Yes. Absolutely. I wanted to be in my room again. I wanted to lay there and be still and just forget about it all.

I didn't want to be beaten with a broom, however.

If my own mother wouldn't accept me, to hell with the idea of my father saying to come on in. This all made sense. Mom was probably more distraught than anyone else in Autumnridge. Here was a woman who just lost both of her sons in what was essentially the same weekend. Now some alien kid flies up to her front door and tells her that he's her son?

I winced at how disgusting it all was. I landed, my head high as I watched the door. Maybe I could have said it better. Or maybe... this was for the best. Maybe I would have infected my mother and father with whatever this transformation disease was...

Then... they would know. They'd know what it's like.

I felt my eyes well up with tears. It struck me quick and hard. I turned away from the house and let the tears roam free. In only a few days, I'd cried more times in my life than in the previous six or something years. And it was all because of a goddamn rock from space.

My eyes were shut tight as I tried to control the tears. I wanted to go away, and with that, I wanted to actually see where I was going. Wiping my eyes, I started walking. I had no idea where I was going... Maybe the hospital, maybe Zatch's place. Anywhere but here... While I was paralyzed in the dusty driveway, I stumbled over a wedge in the ground. It was one of those things that kept vehicles from rolling away. Naturally, there were always too many things to be done around here, and one of those things included moving the wedge from the driveway. I should've either done that, or stuck to flying.

I just let myself fall—no real intention of getting up soon after that. The impact didn't feel great, but it didn't really hurt. My center of gravity was a lot lower, and I guess that had something to do with how hard I hit the ground. The smaller they are, the softer they fall, I suppose. Something else felt much worse at the moment. I sighed, sitting up a few moments later. There was nothing to be said. I tripped.

I tripped hard...

Whatever...

"Uh, you've got wings for a reason."

I lifted my head to this voice. It was feminine, but it'd also sounded like my own voice, had I been outside of this body. To me, my own voice sounded high and... embarrassing, in summation. This one was alarmingly like what I expected I'd sound like on a recorder had I spoken into it as a Celebi...

Funny story, a Celebi was right there. It was luminous, looking down upon me like I was all pathetic. I knew that was true. This other Pokémon was so bright. It was beautiful, like something out of a fairytale. It looked so natural in this world... It looked like it was meant to be what it was. I was out of my league here. This Celebi was never a human... It lowered itself to me, holding out an arm. I accepted the help. As soon as I had done that, its wings fluttered. It lifted itself into the air once again. I did the same. I flew a foot from this "mirror" image, frozen...

"Hey, I'm Celebi. Hehe, but you're Celebi too." This Celebi was a girl. Unlike me, she was pink, and quite radiant all around. Her eyes were emerald green, as were the tips of her antennae. She gave two quick glances, one to the left and one to the right, before speaking to me again. "Let's chat. Here's not the place, sooo follow me." She took my wrist and flew off, knowing I was hopelessly confused. I was glad she took this into consideration, because I probably would have just been there, staring at the spot she had flown from.

We didn't go far. At all. She took me to the meteorite on our property. It was dim, no longer afire with its foreign energies... the damn rock that made this all happen.

But she was comfortable with it. She led me to it. She had herself a seat on this rock, crossing her legs and leaning back like the sun was high and the days weren't numbered. Taken aback, I watched her with eyes wandering only to the rock below, wondering if what she was doing was safe at all. She seemed confident.

But that was the scary part.

Maybe...

"Okay, this'll be a doozy, but here goes. I'm sorta you, Vince. And you're sorta me. From the past. Sorta."

* * *

><p><em><strong>Post-Thing: <strong>lolcliffhanger_


	18. Him

**HIM.**

_**Note:**_

**_Disclaimer:_**_ I don't claim possession over characters originating from the franchises of Chun Soft, Game Freak, Nintendo, and The Pokémon Company, and Hasbro._**_ They belong to their rightful owners._**

* * *

><p>"'The hell is happening to you?!"<p>

"Help... help me... please... Call an ambulance... do _something_, I'm... I'm..."

"What Jane, what?! ...What in God's name is happening to you...?"

…

"Hello Mother. Father."

"Drew...?"

"You're getting what you deserve. To shut the door in the face of your own son. My brother... How could you?"

"You... yo—what?! What is this?! How are you here?! And... what's happened to your ears, boy?!"

"This is what it's like. Mother deerling. This is what it is—what is coming."

…

We were outside now. Darkness settled over our town. Barely a trace of blue was left in the western sky. The night seemed starless. It was like the dark of night was the blight amidst us all, and the blue sky was our dwindling humanity... But I wasn't too sure if the situation was that extreme quite yet.

I was with a few of my friends from the Circle, that is, Nick, Pat, and Emelina. Al and Bryan were elsewhere. We had been transformed into Pokémon a couple hours ago, I think. We also lost Jovany somehow. For him, I hoped for the best... We could only think to go to the one place that would have even considered allowing "infected aliens" inside, and that was the Hummings'. Zatch, Zack, and Zelda had changed into Pokémon a while ago, and allegedly so had their parents. They didn't take this as seriously as I'd thought they might. But that was good news. We were being led by Zack and Zatch to the hospital, where we'd heard a good deal of commotion come from... and for that matter, go to. Our reasoning behind this was that Drew was hospitalized there, so this crazy sci-fi disease may have ignited from within that establishment. Cruce was also there. It was possible that he had something to do with these transformations. I felt like I saw him a few hours ago at the Obsidian Circle. But he was with Drew...

I'm Topher Reigh. I've been transformed into a shaymin, having something to do with a normal "form". Emelina is a vulpix. Nickolas is a minccino. Patricia is some kind of mudkip. Even Zelda had trouble identifying what exactly she was. Al wasn't here, but I described his appearance to Zelda, and she called him a luxio at first, then a shinx.

But the point was that we were all Pokémon. And never in a billion years should something like this ever happen.

Andrea Hummings told us not to go through the woods at this time, but Zack led us into the forested area anyway. It was the quickest way there, and he had a good way of justifying the decision to utilize the detour: we'd make it back home earlier if we took this path, and Mom wouldn't have to worry as much... But I didn't think that mattered for the Circle.

Honestly, I had no plans after reaching the hospital. Getting inside was going to be the greatest challenge. If they had the place under quarantine, there was no chance that we'd be able to get inside as humans, if the reason for this quarantine was what I thought it to be. I wanted to see Cruce, but what was I going to do after that? Was Cruce already infected? Was that possible? Drew told me that I was resisting his... his demands... something like that. Was Drew infected? Drew's body, I mean—could it transform too? If Drew Maire wasn't really the one behind this and some alien bug was... then what did that mean for the young boy's body? And... was Cruce helping him change people? No no no, not Cruce. The... ugh... bug inside of Cruce...

"Maybe this isn't the best time," Patricia started, walking beside Emelina as usual. "But are we going straight home after this? Or back to your place, Zack?"

"So far, our parents are the only ones who really know that you're Pokémon." Said Zack, leading the group with his brother and sister at his sides. He has became more proficient in the act of walking since I had last seen him. "It's your call. I know your folks'd be happy to see you're still fine, 'cause they're probably all worried and such, but..."

"But we're Pokémon, and they don't know that." Nick finished for Zack. "After they've had their episode figuring out it really is us, they'd only be transformed themselves."

"So..." Emelina began wondering. "This is assuming it's an infection? What if some people are immune?"

"I don't know, I think it's still too early to draw any conclusions. I get the whole cautious thing, but we're kinda throwing that against the wind by going to the hospital in the first place." Explained Zack.

True, we weren't in our right minds jumping to conclusions. But we also weren't in our right bodies.

Nor was Drew. He wasn't in his own mind at all.

Or was he actually outside of his own mind? Good lord...

"Hmm." I heard Zatch ponder over something. He slowed his pace, allowing me to catch up. He was watching me, as if having something to say. "What about Vince? You said he went home?"

"Yeah, he's home, I'm sure." Zack spoke for me.

"So guys." I started, my voice not as low as it used to be. It was never low to begin with, but now I wasn't all that audible. I worried if they'd heard me. "Should we head to Vince's? It's on the way..."

"Why's that? Got something in mind?" Zatch asked, head tilted forward as he looked down at me.

"Yeah."

"I wonder if Vince's parents turned into Celebis too..." Zelda fascinated over the concept I had in mind.

"That's it! Maybe we'll be able to find out if this really spreads like an infection to everyone. 'Cause... if you said Vince is a legendary, wouldn't that mean...?"

"There's like only one legendary, and they live forever, I think, sooo..." Zelda and I were on the same track. I recalled the lesson she gave us about legendaries while her brothers were experimenting with their music.

"This is worth checking out, Zeldster." Zack agreed. "I guess Vince might want to come with us. He wants to see his brother, but..." He paused, looking himself over briefly, the last detail he acknowledged being his stringy tail, as he holds it with one paw, a bothered expression showing in his face. "Well, I've seen all I want to see of him after this. But it's not him doing this crap to us."

"Hopefully..." Emelina added.

Without a need for many more words, our path was set awry. It wasn't much of an inconvenience, as we only needed to backtrack a quarter mile or so. I had initially thought Vince and I had gone our separate ways for the day, but that wasn't the case. There was a... change of plans... and people—a change of appearance may have been more accurate. I had a gut feeling that something had changed with him, too, but... what was a gut feeling when you weren't even familiar with your own anymore? If it seemed like I was grieving over my transformation way more than necessary, it was probably because it was something we all shared, and I wouldn't have looked like a complainer. I wanted to grieve over Cruce, but... Vince was the only other one who would've understand what that was like at the moment. Maybe I did need to see him again. Earlier today, Zatch was a sweetheart about my, or Cruce's, problem, but he couldn't understand what it felt like. I still appreciated what he did, and how he approached me...

…

This other Celebi...

She was me.

I said nothing to that. How could you?

But Zelda was right. I guess I could time travel. Now to digest the actuality that this girl was me from the future... "sorta". I didn't know who she was. I didn't even know if she was real. I was staring at her like I'd just awakened after being slugged in the head with a baseball bat and couldn't remember anything prior to that. With that in mind, I was actually beginning to question if something like that had happened recently.

"I know what you're thinking. Impossible, right? Not really. Here, I'll explain..." Celebi brought one of her hands up to her mouth, clearing her throat a bit before continuing. She started on a very unusual note. Hopefully I could stay focused on what she was saying. She crossed one leg over the other once more, and in doing this, I realized the femininity about her, not only in her bright pink color, but in her motions. And that was _me_? "Let's start from here." She gave a quick glance to the small meteorite she was so casually sitting upon. "You know by now that this isn't an ordinary rock from space. Originally, it was an entire planetoid filled to the brim with... what we call liquid starlight, I s'pose. It traveled quite a ways to reach this planet, but by then, it was no more than a pebble. I know that this isn't all that's left of it. Two fragments fell elsewhere nearby; a lucky break if you ask me!"

"Lucky... I'd use a different word." I commented, finally able to speak again. Maybe I should have been paying more attention to the possibility that she was talking about other planets.

"Drew... I know." She began, frowning and nodding. "And the transformations that followed. Drew was curious, so he touched the meteorite while it was still fresh. In doing so, something escaped... into him."

"You actually know about this?" My eyes went a little wider. The answer to all of my questions may have been sitting in front of me. Ironically, I was the one answering them... I think.

"Sorta." There was that word again. "It's complicated. Drew's brainwaves synced with the monster infused with the meteor. He was released into your brother's mind, where he found a familiar home... Your brother was an avid fan Pokémon, and... let's just say this: A lot of things went really well for that monster. Lady luck was on his side... maybe I was lady luck, because I was also infused with the meteorite." She turned away, looking ashamed. I felt a sort of relief, but a new kind of disturbance. I'd remember being inside of a rock from space, so how was she me? "I'll tell you how I'm sorta you in a sec." She answered, as if reading my own mind. Two factors supported that. The first was that she was claiming to be me, and the second was that she and I were Celebi. Psychic powers had their role here. "Drew absorbed a very... very very bad Pokémon, and a lot of gamma energy—that's liquid starlight—when he touched this rock. It all just fled into him. The combined energies of these two forces caused a reaction in his own imagination. I think the best way to describe it is maybe... a second brain?"

It clicked. The doctor was telling the truth. My brother was developing another brain, or had developed, for all I know. I nodded, confirming her suspicions. I think she already knew anyway.

"...Him."

She said nothing more for six or seven seconds, but that single word spoken felt diabolical.

"That's him. His brain within Drew isn't physical. It's a type of astral projection, but that doesn't mean it's not active and working like it should never have been."

"This guy's not going to kill my brother is he?! And how's he turning us into Pokémon? What's going on around here...?" I was growing impatient, but I was not losing interest.

"No, he won't do that. Drew's still very much alive. He's using Drew's memory to recreate his own... through the interest in Pokémon, he can remember what he was. Right now, he is still a projection that appears to be Drew in every way, but he'll slowly transform... These other transformations are spreading like a disease. I don't know much about them yet, but they're gamma-induced. Mutations." She looked away once more, rubbing her arm as though she was about to inform me of something dire... "He's obsessed... These gamma mutations are no different than what he tried to do back home. I have no idea what he's up to, but it's staggering to see that, even after all of our efforts, he's still here..."

This girl was all over the place. I couldn't understand what she was trying to say. Maybe she was frightened. She seemed awfully upbeat when we met.

"I'm-I'm sorry, I may be confusing you." She read my mind once more. She was confusing me, sure, but I was able to understand bits and pieces of her story. "You want to know how I'm you. I'm not actually Vince. My name is Celebi, and... I'm the one who turned you into that. Not him..."

Twice. I was hit in the head twice with the baseball bat. I simply stared, well aware of her inquiry to my mind. She knew I'd ask what the hell that meant. I didn't bother saying anything.

"You saw the projection of Drew in the woods before you transformed. That was him, and he was about to confront you, but... I had been slowly trying to mutate you from the start. He has a much more powerful command over this disease of metamorphosis. Your transformation was already underway. He could not change it. He could only be a catalyst."

"So... wh-why did I see Drew in the woods in the first place?" I knew that this wasn't really Drew. It was this nameless evil upon us.

"Because of the gamma mutation you were going through. The gamma allows you to see... a new color. I don't know much about this color, other than it makes you see Drew's form." She shook her head, eyes closed for a moment. "It's the telltale sign of a transformation about to happen."

"I should've seen you instead of Drew... I didn't."

"Mhmm. That's because my influence was so much weaker. To understand this, we may need to back up a little... Remember the moment Drew fell unconscious?"

"I do..." I nodded, keeping my head low. "I caught him, luckily."

"Through that contact, I was able to pass into you. Because Drew..." She paused once again, taking a subtle, oddly timed deep breath. "Drew released me as well."

She was silent for another few moments. I turned my head to see if anyone had been watching us. It wasn't just the dark. After having heard about this monster, I was far more alert than before.

"So how come..." I returned my attention to her. "How come Drew didn't just absorb you too?" To this question, she shrugged her shoulders.

"I'm unsure. Maybe it wasn't allowed... I would've been able to stop this from happening, but I failed... And that's why you're Celebi, Vince. Bear with me. You're the only one who can stop this from getting out of hand, but... You'll need my help."

Three times. The bat came once more. What she had just called me was a chosen one. I was a high school student who got unimpressive grades and participated in cross-country and lived on a farm and cleaned up animal crap. I honestly didn't think this could get any crazier.

It did. It went beyond crazy.

"Laza is his name. Short for Lazareon." She continued, eyes closed as she spoke. "And you are to me what Drew is to him. An embodiment."

"...An embodiment, so... I have a second brain also?" I began to feel light and airy.

"Sorta." She giggled. "Your second brain only remembered herself through Drew's love for Pokémon. Oh, and she doesn't want to feed off of your mind." She opened her eyes once again, her green gaze piercing through me. I was blind, and then her eyesight was my own. I wished to keep them closed, so I did. And when I did, hers were closed too. And then it was black... I heard her voice. "I'm connected to the meteorite still. I can't go far, so I need to complete this fusion... Your transformation." She spoke. No. I spoke... "Laza can be everywhere, and I can only be here with you. But you and I can be with Drew, and we can fix this. We're all connected now: the meteorite, gamma, Laza, Drew, you, and I..."

I opened my eyes. I was facing the house now, and there was no one in front of me... I was sitting on the meteorite, my legs crossed. I lowered my head to them. Their color appeared to be unchanged, as was the rest of me. My transformation was complete...?

But I was the one sitting on this rock...

I heard Celebi's voice continue, but I was not speaking.

"I hate to drag you into this, Vince. But I know you want to save your brother."

And I did. I wanted him back. I wanted everything back.

"Let's go see him."

My wings fluttered. I lifted myself from the meteorite. I was on my way...

Mother... Father...

I stopped after having flown a some yards. Turning back, I saw the husk of a rock that was the "gamma"-infused meteorite. At its side stood a boy who looked like Drew. He was watching me, unmoving, expression unchanging, eyes wide and red...

I turned away, shaking my head to recover from this, but upon turning around once again to confirm that I was hallucinating, I saw him once again. He was much closer. He was only a few feet from me now, but he was standing in the same manner, eyes afire with an unnatural crimson gleam. His ears were inhuman. They appeared to be the ears of a canine, small blue orbs at their tips...

"Celebi." He spoke with two voices, one of which being my brother's. I could not make out the other. It was blank. It was monotone. "Thank you, Celebi."

I blinked. This was Lazareon.

This will be Lazareon.

With that blink, he had vanished from all senses of mine, human and Pokémon alike. A small gust blew through my antennae. I turned, swallowing spit, wings aflutter purely from nerve at this point. I was afraid to move forward, in all aspects of the term. I refused to, but something kept my body moving. It was overpowering. It didn't feel like courage. It didn't feel like conviction. It felt like Celebi.

I was off of the farm, facing the dark woods, crickets chirping up an orchestra all around me. The forest was alive, and so was I. This voice was entrancing. It was inspiring; a certain something that I needed in order to push forward. It wasn't the only thing. A few friends would have been nice. I may have been wrong to part with Topher, but I would have never met Celebi this way. We talked briefly, though I was captivated by her. I was comfortable when she spoke. In a way, I didn't feel like myself. She was talking to me through me, and somehow telling me that it was going to be okay. I trusted her, because I trusted myself.

And I trusted the course of action I needed to take was paramount to the survival of mankind.

What a day.

Into the darkness I bolted.

…

"You know?" Zelda began, skipping merrily. She was absolutely adorable. I couldn't help but smile at her enthusiasm. She was still such a little girl, despite her age. She was a tween, but that didn't mean much for the first grader—maybe second—inside of her. "This totally reminds me of the first episode of My Little Pony, where they're all walking through the dark woods." I chuckled a little bit. We were pals, and that cartoon was something we loved to talk about when we could.

"But there's seven of us, and there were six of them." I reminded her. I was a fan of the show. The people of older ages who enjoyed it, myself included, were called bronies. It was a little strange, but I had always loved the series... True, I was the girliest guy in the town. There may have been a correlation to that and my love for ponies. I didn't pay much attention to it, because the cartoon was extremely popular among all kinds of guys.

"Ohhh, but what about Spike?" She persisted. I had so many other things on my mind, that I'd completely forgotten about the number of characters present on the journey Zelda and I were talking about.

"I don't know, Sweetie. I forgot." I gave her a soft smile. It was exponentially more difficult to turn my head while walking, and that was something I could've done without. There were a lot of things I would've rather done without.

"What if we turned into ponies...?" Zelda asked, the question sounding like more of a declarative statement.

"No." Zatch spoke up.

"I don't know, dude." Zack responded to Zatch. "Ponies have magic."

"That's just unicorns!" Zelda confirmed, raising an arm as if pointing something out. It was true, as a matter of fact.

"Pokémon kind of have magic." Emelina joined in the conversation.

"Yep, but it's a little different. Do any of you think you can use your abilities yet?" Zelda looked each of us over, obviously hoping for an affirmative somewhere. I certainly didn't know how to use any powers, and I doubted the others had a clue. We had only been like this for a few hours. It was something that would come in time, if we weren't human by said time. That was a positive out of all of this. No matter what the outcome, there was some good to come from this transformation.

"I don't think I can." Pat admitted, holding her locket.

"I'm not so sure what kind of crazy abilities you might have, Pat, because I've never seen a mudkip stand on two legs. Marhstomp, yes. Mudkip, no." Zelda shook her head.

"Emelina might know something about it. Like, powers, I mean. Not me." Pat continued, glancing to our cheerleader friend.

"Wha? I don't think I do, honestly." She denied.

"Hey, hey, sorry to butt in, but do you guys see that?" Zatch interrupted, stopping in his tracks. The group imitated, following the direction of his outstretched arm. He'd pointed ahead, into the moist darkness of the woods. In the center of the path was a pair of bright blue orbs. It looked as if they were floating. Eyes or fireflies, and I didn't think fireflies were that bright. Another Pokémon, perhaps.

"Guys?" A voice came from the orbs. It sounded like it belonged to a girl, but this could have been anyone if he or she truly was a Pokémon. Zatch seemed to recognize the figure right away. He approached the orbs.

"Vinnie Vince, man, where you been? It's been ages, bro!" He joked, relieving us all with both his typical humor and his certainty that this was his good friend.

I was the last one with him, but I'm sure the same thing was on all of our minds: What was Vince doing out here?

Vince was quiet. He looked over each of us, mouth slightly agape.

"Yo, Vince? Anyone home?" Zatch tried to catch his friend's attention.

"Zatch..." Our quiet friend finally spoke, still eying us over. "When did this happen?"

"It happened right after we went our own ways." I answered, approaching the 'other legendary' here. I raised my head to him. "It's me. Topher. And I'm here with Nick, Pat, and Emelina. We had our fair share of transformation recently."

"You aren't kidding." Vince set down, curiously poking at my back. "Were you all on your way to my house...? 'Cause... I'm headed to the hospital."

"That makes it less complicated." Zack spoke, paws on his hips.

"Nah... Everything just got much more complicated." Said Vince, haunted with shock.

…

Well, we were on our way before he could explain.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Other Note: <strong>Hmmm, a pink Celebi... Did Vince just get TG'd? In any case, the adventure's about to heat up. More transformations on the way as well. Fun times.__  
><em>


	19. Immersion

**IMMERSION  
><strong>

_**Note: **I didn't realize that the last chapter's note went all invisible on me. Well, this is important, because it's the last chapter of Wave: Endemic. It'll continue as Wave: Epidemic, since everything's about to change here.  
><em>

_I thought it might be alright to go on after this chapter and change some other folks kind of close to the main characters. I had a more enjoyable idea. I think. So I'll stick with it and see what happens.**  
><strong>_

**_Disclaimer:_**_ I don't claim possession over characters originating from the franchises of Chun Soft, Game Freak, Nintendo, and The Pokémon Company._**_ They belong to their rightful owners._**

* * *

><p>We walked silently, intent on letting the sounds of the nightly woodland decorate our fancies with images of tranquil streams, predator and prey, hillsides and habitats...<p>

It felt like we were among that magnificent picture—felt like we were animals.

Maybe that would have been completed without the constant assault on our ears overhead. Choppers appeared to be circling nearby.

But really.

It seemed like we were bound to morph and yield to it. We, or at least I, felt powerless, as I've mentioned before. We should have all just be frolicking about, doing whatever it was Pokémon did in the wild. I knew enough about them. I knew that people and Pokémon worked together to overcome obstacles. Something like that. Maybe that was bull. Those were just words put into the virtual mouth of the game in order to make it so appealing to a young audience—in order to teach them about morals, manners, and whatever the hell. Proper grammar. I got it.

Yeah, humans—that was formerly us—caught Pokémon in order to make them battle one another to satisfy some convoluted challenge we created for kids to complete. I may have going on about it as though it were real. But, honestly, that was the big puzzle.

No.

It can't be real. The rated E world in which this concept was programmed had always existed in such a manner that optimism was paramount. Having the best attitude determined whether you were a good guy or a bad guy, and the good guy wins. End of story. It was always cute. It was charming. You were the most important person in the world, and everything came to you in time that passed irregularly... I was unwilling to go as far as insulting the intelligence of those who could understand this in the first place, but the difference between "us" and "them" was that they could only be because of us. We created them in the most ideal fashion, and...

Now they were coming to create us in a manner much like that. This was real.

This was a real world where time passed irregularly. This was a real world where the most important person was Drew. This was a real world where the good guy... hopefully won.

Maybe we had no idea what we were in for, but we weren't going quietly. We weren't yielding to Laza. I wasn't...

…

"Celebi told me that Laza was the one causing these transformations—that he was using this gamma stuff to mutate us into Pokémon through the host of Drew, my brother, since he had a love for the game. He knew Pokémon. So... whenever someone was infected, they'd see Drew before changing into whatever Pokémon he had planned for them to become. I was an exception. Celebi tried to transform me herself. I still saw Laza though... and he finished the job. I mean, wouldn't that mean that Celebi was behind this? Before me, no one was infected. I spread this to you, Zatch, who, in turn, spread it to Zelda and Zack." I explained to my skeptical friends, their replies either being inaudible due to the sounds of the sylvan night, or nonexistent in the first place. Maybe it sounded as though I had a bad trip. Well, we all had. They were just going to have to believe me.

"So," Zatch began, unsurprisingly. "There's this monster Pokémon who possessed your brother... but there's also like this angel girl who possessed you? And she started this?"

"Y-yeah, sorta." I bit my lip gently upon hearing the second word leave my mouth. I felt as though I sounded exactly like her. "But also no. But... I-I don't know, I'm relaying limited information to you guys. The fact of the matter is that Drew does have a second brain, and it's Lazareon. That's who he absorbed. I absorbed the good one, I think."

"So hold on..." Topher started quietly as usual. "If this is all true, then what happened to my cousin?"

The lot of us weren't able to answer that. Celebi had never spoken a word about Cruce to me. That was mildly suspicious, but hadn't we fused together? Was she me? Perhaps I should've been able to understand what she was thinking if we were the same psychic being.

"I don't know." I simply responded, shoulders shrugging as I hovered. I glanced to Topher—the shaymin—and felt a powerful tug of remorse. It appeared to me as though I had been guided by Celebi and had, at the very least, some questions answered. Topher was going through the same ordeal, yet his case was a complete mystery to all of us. He did mention to us that Drew—Laza, now that he knows—had trouble transforming him with the infection—again, now that he knows—and had to do it directly. So something's up with this guy. Girl. Whatever he prefers. She. I'unno. "We are going to the hospital anyway, so Max'll be there. Maybe he's awake."

"Only one way to know." Nick spoke up, kicking a pebble aside. He was a minccino, although he kept his trademark fedora and glasses.

The forest path was growing narrower as we trudged through the dark, our eyesight adjusted to the level of light by now. The trees were shadows lining this muddy walkway, their canopy acting as a veil of dark shielding us from the rest of the world. It felt natural. It almost felt good. Maybe it was just me. Both rows of arching trees seemed to hunch over further as the trail wandered off into a black horizon. Light pollution in these woods was minimal, even regarding the moonlight. The tendency for the trees to bow over combined with the canopy's overgrowth created a sense of claustrophobia, albeit bearable in that there was a way out. It was just a little hard to see. I could tell we had walked, or flew, a ways in this dark not only where time was concerned, but that this was the woodland's thickest portion; an area that appeared to be growing out of proportion to the rest of the forest. To fix that, a large building was constructed, parking lots included, which ordered annihilation of a large section of the thickets. Now, suburbs and woodland run eerily parallel to each other, as if waging an idle war.

The building was our destination...

"By the way," Zatch began abruptly. "And this is hella off topic. Why the heck didn't you guys keep your phones with you?" I observed the pikachu watching each of the Circle members. Nick, Patricia, Emelina, and Topher had nothing to say about that immediately. I wasn't sure if Nick was staying silent for comedic effect.

"I wish I could've kept my phone, but where do I put it?" Emelina, the vulpix, asked, looking at her backside. "I have a hard enough time walking still."

"I don't think I could even hold it." Pat admitted, looking at her stubby hands. Zelda still wasn't sure what she was specifically; a mudkip on two legs or something.

"Mhmm, and my phone died on me today." Topher claimed.

I had no excuse for neglecting to take my phone. I was probably caught up in the moment of having to survive. I was rushed, as well, only thinking to grab the things that would keep me going. A cell phone wouldn't have supported the mood of solitude.

"Yo. Zack. You have your phone?" Zatch spun around, eyes now on his brother. The raichu looked away insidiously.

"Ahh-ha, reception sucks out here anyway..." Zack dismissed, focusing on Zelda. "Heh-hey, look, it's Zelda! Zelda, do your impression of dubstep."

"Um..." The pichu's ears went flat as she attempted to find a way out of this awkward situation her older brother left her in. "No you."

"Zack doesn't have his phone. We're phoneless." Zatch face-palmed with both of his paws. "Between our big group here, I'm sure one of us could operate a phone."

"Do you have any implications of how a phone could be useful right now?" Nick began. I still found it difficult to believe his tone of voice was now naturally that high. It was honestly pretty funny. He sounded like a seven-year-old. "If we're to call anyone, it'd be your mother or father. And what would they do if we were in trouble? Walk all the way here?"

"I'd think that if we were in trouble, we could risk calling our actual parents to come pick us up. It'd be sort of a last resort thingy." Topher offered his view.

"We would infect them." Nick objected swiftly.

"That's not a sure thing, is it?" Emelina questioned. It was a good inquiry. Even I didn't know if these transformations were guaranteed to affect everyone. So I chimed in.

"I don't know. Celebi didn't say anything about that. She just said it was gamma mutation."

"If it's a viral mutation, it's likely that everybody is fair game." Claimed Nick. "Almost like zombies."

"Zombies, huh?" Zatch questioned his choice of words. Following that, the conversation dissolved into the air like nothing. Each of us were listening to the rowdy skies. It seemed like an entire fleet of helicopters was in the air. If that wasn't enough, another siren had started blaring. Prior to its scream, I heard shouts. They were coming from the hospital's parking lot beyond the overgrowth.

"That zombie thing is sounding more likely by the second, dude." Zack nodded as he spoke. "I guess we're not alone out here."

The shouts became more vivid. The entire police force of Autumnridge was here, and I wasn't surprised if they had gone further than that. Some kind of battle was taking place. Orders were hollered. Loud pops and cracks occasionally sounded, causing most of us to flinch. I couldn't tell if they were gunshots or standard issue flashbangs, which may have meant that the S.W.A.T. Team was here, and that they had begun some kind of operation on or within the building. This was chaotic. It was something totally outlandish for Autumnridge. This had probably been the first time the entire police team was assembled in one location. All of us here knew that something was wrong at the hospital—the two patients in a coma, the number of emergencies—and that it was being investigated. This didn't seem like an investigation. It was ever so slightly more... aggressive.

We passed through the low overhang, coming upon a slanted section of the pathway which branched into three directions, separated by dried bushes. The other two paths led to bike trails along the side of the woodland, while the center cut straight through the thickets and to high ground; ultimately, the parking lot. The sight of the tall building was luminous, the entire area aglow with lights from the ground and sky alike. I flew forth, shocked to see the escalation of this infection.

They were Pokémon...

Pokémon were scampering about, some much larger than others, defending themselves. Hordes of officers were rushing in to capture stunned Pokémon with nets and other confinement devices, excluding the one actually meant for Pokémon. It was mayhem. Large, steel vehicles sent out officers equipped body armor and assault rifles. The asphalt was ablaze with light from the choppers above, an obstacle we were lucky to not simply dash into initially. There was no gunfire. The authorities must have known that these were still people. Despite that, this looked like something of deportation. It almost made me wretch. What were these officers doing to the citizens of Autumnridge? How did so many people end up like this already?

The officers were matched up against resistance. Some Pokémon performed with more grace than others, supposedly having been in their altered forms for longer. They were rushing the officers, tackling them to the ground with ease. I witnessed a few of them even manipulate their so-called powers. I saw fire, ice, wind, and water generate from these creatures—the kind of creature I am. Lackluster at this time, they still put up a fight. I needed to intervene. I wanted to. I had to. I was Celebi's voice.

My friends and I captured this image, locking in the back of our heads. This was the image of mankind and Pokémon together. I wanted to believe, no, I did believe that this could be changed. But for the time being, this is what I saw. This is the photo I took. This is what I was subjected to. We fought. We just fought.

Because of Lazareon.

I shook my head, afraid. I wanted to back away from the conflict, but...

I couldn't. Mentally. Physically. I turned my head around. My friends were not there. The dark of the woods was there, as well as its face. The asphalt beneath me shimmered, rippled, swirled... The world around me froze in place. I was viewing everything through a new lens—as though I were underwater, and my perception was based off of the gentle motions of light waves. The radiance of the hospital reflected through this state of being—this vision—and I faced forward. The facade of the hospital was closer. There were no Pokémon, no humans, no choppers, no friends. They were gone. All but the environment I know had vanished from this aquatic vision...

Another glance over my shoulder revealed nothing new, but upon facing forward again, I saw Drew. His ears remained distorted. His eyes remained bright red. He had a white tail. The tail was thin, splitting into two separate tails near its end. It was him and I alone in this dreamscape.

"It starts with this..." His voice sounded. It was impure, plagued with multiple voices high and low. It was filthy. It hurt to hear. I wanted to cover my face and look away. I could not move. I was still flying, but I could not speak. I could only see Drew. Laza. He lifted his arm, palm out for me, as if wishing for me to reach for his hand. A menacing smirk crossed his face as his gaze became locked with mine. I didn't react. I couldn't. He squeezed his fingers tightly into his palm, the action of making a fist blinding me. Thunder growled alongside this ephemeral lightning. A downpour commenced. There was no wind...

I could see. I could move. We were both at the base of the hospital, the differences being the rainfall within this immersion, as well as Laza and I.

I noticed my arms, my torso, my legs... All had become pink, the tips of my antennae altering into a neutral green. I looked myself over quite a few times before my peripheral vision caught sight of Laza. He was on all four legs, no longer anything of a human being, or a phantom of one.

I knew him. I didn't know how. But I knew that Lazareon and I had lived in the same world at one time. I knew what he was. He was an espeon. He was mutated. His body was white, the tips of his paws highlighted blue, much like the tiny orbs on his ears and the jewel within his forehead. His eyes, however, were crimson, and there was a terrible, jagged scar at his side.

"Vince... how it's been a while since I've used that name in your presence. I appreciate you taking the time and effort to assist me." His voice was vivid now. It was serene and soothing. I hesitated to speak. I wanted to hear him speak again. I was trapped... "You and I have traveled far across time and space, I..." He turned his head to the side a bit, chuckling. "I could not have done this without you, dear girl."

I was speechless. I felt less... alive. I had no idea whether I was Vince or Celebi. I wanted Laza to tell me everything. I was a drone.

"Not fond of words, are you?" The mutated espeon lifted his head, an irritating grin having formed across his face. "You've sacrificed a lot for the ones you love. But _this_ sacrifice? Foolish girl. You're weak now. You've given too much. You've died. Your last breath was taken. You are gamma. Your mind and being have been reduced to liquid starlight." He shook his head, eyes closed. "Yet... Vince, you really wish to continue this grandfather paradox? This Circle?"

I was Vince, not Celebi... But Vince was Celebi... Vince was to become Celebi. I watched Laza's every motion, my head swaying, my sight failing.

"You are a presence which must not be, and neither am I. But we are. Because of you. Vince. This is you. I have you to thank for this." Laza began approaching me. He was a slow blur in the motions of the surrounding aquatic vortex. I felt my feet touch the wet ground. "So many variables have gone my way, and you are one of them. You are always one of them. One of two. Jovany is the other." This blurry figure stopped before me, raising a fore paw to me, as if for me to hold. "You will always cling to life. But you will be weak. Limited. Because of me. And with your persisting breath, you will always try to stop me. But, in the end, we share that breath. You are the one who chokes."

I reached for him. I touched his paw. He was soft, cold, and reminiscent of everything I had known for an unspeakable time. Split seconds after this, the distance betwixt he and I expanded. The hospital's facade was further away. He was standing in front of it, his paw still outstretched.

"You will decide tonight, Vince. You may come to your brother's bedside and behold the true power of gamma, or you may allow Drew to become the wave which engulfs all. Save your brother, save your world, sacrifice yourself and continue the cycle... Or allow Drew and I to coalesce and reshape this world... Either way," He paused, lowering his paw to the ground. Thunder roared... "Thank you."

His gratitude echoed in my head. The ethereal storm continued to cascade around me as the echoes transmogrified into the voices of my friends, into shouts of disarray and pain. Chaos and commotion was the storm engulfing me.

…

I returned to my senses, clarity coming shortly after. I was baffled at my own appearance once again, as it had reverted to its original color. I wasn't sure how much time had passed in the absence of my own mind, but my friends and I were still beholding the sight of the battle between the Autumnridge police force and the Pokémon. I spoke not a word of this empyrean encounter to anyone. I wasn't aware of any words that could describe it. But I was not about to shrug it off. I had to go. I had to move.

"We're going in." I stated, my gaze fixed on the building.

"You sure about this?" Zatch doubted me, more distracted with the commotion.

"See you on the other side!" I darted forth, flying at a speed I had never managed before. I'd always been one to enjoy the wind rushing by my face while running at high speeds. This was a new high. I was alive, and I intended to live as much as I could before I reached my brother.

No more questions. Laza was evil. He was lying to me. An infinite cycle? Ridiculous. I was going to see Drew, and that was the end of it. I didn't belong to Lazareon in any way. None of us did. We were free.

…

"See you on the other side!"

Vince took flight faster than my eyes could follow. Then again, I couldn't follow any of this. The police were rounding up other Pokémon as though they were monsters, which, maybe that was accurate in a literal sense, but it hurt to watch. We were Pokémon too. This was the challenge blocking the path to Cruce, and, no matter how much of a coward I was, I wasn't ready to let this turn me around. I didn't care what I was about to immerse myself in. I wanted to be with my cousin. I needed to.

Before I could take after Vince's example, Zatch bolted in front of me, running on all fours. He made it look easy in terms of fearlessness and dexterity. Zack swung an arm out, his other holding his little sister close.

"Hey! Zatch!" Zack shouted for his brother, who didn't give anything of a response.

Emelina was the next to go. She simply closed her eyes and dashed on ahead, showing a determination of her own.

The adrenal moment was shared between all of us. Patricia and Nick were off as well. They were not halted by the swift action of one of the cops lurching for Zatch's raised tail. He had been captured, although foolishly on the part of the officer if this infection concept was true. I heard a shriek beside me.

"Aaaaaaaah!" Zelda broke free from her brother's hold, sprinting on her four legs to Zatch. "Get away, get away, get awaaaaaay!" Driven with this devotion to protect Zatch, I saw sparks fly back from her cheeks as she ran. A leap of faith led her to the officer's arm. She had bitten him through a splash of electricity, the man falling to the ground limply while releasing Zatch. He appeared paralyzed by this attack. I heard a flurry of footsteps beside me, telling me that Zack took off as well.

I was last, therefore it was my turn. I ran. I paid no attention to the unfortunate souls around me. I did hear screams. In my concentration, I felt invulnerable, but, at the same time, I thought I was bound to be pulled off in any direction at some moment. Maybe it was my size, but I made it through. I had followed Nick to the hospital's entrance. Vince was nowhere to be seen. Neither was Emelina or Pat. It took a few moments for the Hummings siblings to catch up. I was panting.

"Hey." Zatch greeted us, rushed and out of breath. "Where's everyone else?"

"Uh, I don't know." I shook my head, speaking quickly. "I followed Nick inside, but I don't know where Vince is and..."

"Emelina and Pat?" Nick asked, scanning around the massive lobby. There were a few other Pokémon present. They were injured. Some looked as though they were families. It was beyond surreal. This many people had transformed under our noses. We had no time to help them.

"Dammit, I don't know. I don't... Vince?!" Zatch called out, paws around his mouth.

…

Having ascended the emergency stairwell, I soared hopelessly through the third floor's halls, the place already looking the same. I felt lucky enough in that I had visited Drew a few nights back, so I remembered his room, and it was around here somewhere. Frustration began to take hold. I paused, taking a deep breath and telling myself that the worst was over, hopefully. I wasn't going to be pursued. The officers had others to worry about, as horrible as it felt to throw others in my place like that.

I heard sobbing in one of the nearby rooms. This wasn't the wing of the hospital Drew was located, although I was curious enough to remain and listen to the noises in the occupied room. Muffled voices sounded behind a closed door. Each of them were female.

"What's happening...? Oh God, what is this?!" One of the young women, supposedly a nurse, cried out. I was thinking this was the woman who was sobbing. I let myself descend to the cool white tile, back against the wall, careful not to flatten out my wings.

"We've seen it before. We can't stop it. I'm sorry." Another of the women spoke regretfully.

"I need something... please." The sobbing woman was sounding weaker and weaker with each passing second. She was in a kind of unmistakable pain, given the context. I heard some shuffling around in the room.

She was shouting. It was muffled further by something I couldn't see, probably a pillow in her mouth. Zelda had bitten down on her pillow or blanket during her transformation. It was a valid technique, but... it still hurt to change, and it hurt to remember.

I left, or... fled, rather.

My head began to ache. I knew where I was now. I was getting much closer to Drew.

As I came nearer and nearer to my little brother, I felt a push; a resistance. My headache grew worse, and my eyelids became heavy, as though I was being forced into an arduous sleep.

I was slipping.

I passed rooms by, not thinking whether or not they held patients who had already been transformed.

Heavier and heavier I became, having to set down and run, then slow to a sluggish walk. I wanted to topple over and fall asleep. I wanted to slip into a coma. But I just... couldn't.

This feeling and this feeling alone told me enough. There was more of a reason to be here than to just save my brother...

...And then there was Celebi...

Her voice was distant, but she was there.

_Vince, it's me. I'm fading fast... I won't be here for very much longer, and neither will you. Listen to me, everything Laza told you is... true..._

_Yes, you are my host. Yes, Drew is technically his. The difference between us is that you and I are completely one. You will find out when we reach Drew. Your brother, however, is... infected._

_He has been infected to such a high caliber, that he and Laza must be separate. Laza may grow off of his memories, but Drew has shifted into a new being from the reserves of Laza's energy. This energy... comes from the future, Vince._

_The infinite cycle can be broken. You and I will find a way... You... You will find a way. I'm not long for this world at this rate. But you are bound for another. You feel weak, because I am dying off... But it's okay... I've planted the seeds... I'll grow back._

_Save Drew. Spare this world. Its fate may be peculiar, but its far better than what Laza could do to it with this kind of power._

_I just... wish I could've met you on better terms._

_You are my legacy, after all... _

_Sorry for that._

…

The Hummings siblings, Nick, and I were hiding behind the vacant front desk in the lobby. I knew that we couldn't wait any longer for Emelina and Pat. We had to assume that they were either lost or captured. I'm not sure how they could get lost here either, but if one of them were captured, I was positive that the other attempted a rescue.

"I don't want to be snatched. They're still out there rounding people up." Zack spoke quietly, his little sister burying her face in his side. "If you need to see Cruce, Topher, you should go do it now. We'll come with."

"You remember his room, right?" Asked Zatch, rubbing one of his cheeks.

"Mhmm, I think." I nodded, staring at the floor short after. I hoped I remembered. It was difficult to calm down after a rush like that, especially considering the madness outside hasn't subsided. On the bright side, it sounded like the conflict was exclusively outside, rather than inside the building at all. "I'm going to head to an elevator. Obviously I can't reach anything, so I'll need help." I looked to the Hummings brothers.

"Don't worry, dude. Zatch and I'll get it." Zack assured me, a warm smiling crossing his lips. "Now get out there." He bobbed his head in the direction of the elevator.

I smiled in return, making a second dash a second or two afterward. I felt okay. I felt like I was in the clear, and everything was about to work out alright. That was all shattered when I heard a powerful voice blare in my direction.

"Behind the front desk, behind the front desk!" Shouted an officer, leading his team into the building. With a few motions of his arm and hand, he ordered them to fan out throughout the lobby. I froze, trembling as I gazed up at the men, thinking that I was about to be blinded, deafened, then seized with a net. It would have come to pass were it not for Nick. He swerved out from around the large round desk, reacting with more skill than I ever thought he had for such an apathetic guy. He removed his fedora, promptly hurling it at the armored leading officer. It struck him in the forehead, doing next to nothing. His only reaction was a slight grunt and a step back.

Two yellow blurs raced on ahead of me. I was picked up the side. I gave a scream, thinking that one of the men had somehow flanked us. For a moment, I believed I was roped up. Eyes covered with my paws, I let my fears take me wherever I may have been destined for a few seconds. The motions felt very awkward for a rope, however. I removed my paws from my face for a moment, spotting a small yellow lightning bolt shape near me. I was being carried by Zack's tail, and he was being led by Zatch and Zelda to the elevator. I tried to locate Nick. He was not following us, simply because he couldn't. He had been netted by the officers, his hat held in the hand of the man he struck. The other injured Pokémon of the lobby were currently being confined as well, giving us enough time to escape the line of sight. We were down the first few halls within a good five seconds.

The squadron couldn't keep up with the three siblings. We did, however, pass the elevators. I wanted to object, but I also trusted these three. And only did I understand what was going on when I saw that we were passing signs which led the way to the emergency stairs. There would have been no time to orient the three into the proper position that allowed them to activate the elevator. Besides, it was much slower. The cops were at an advantage if they could just wait for the elevator right next to ours and activate it with haste.

The heavy door to the emergency stairs in the back of the hospital had been left open. This dilemma was probably emergency enough for someone to let that happen. Maybe someone had to escort some Pokémon out through the stairs, onlny to be ambushed by the Autumnridge police force...

Zatch and Zelda had a bit of trouble climbing the stairs. I couldn't do it. I was enthralled with the concept of us even making it this far on four legs. The good news for all of us was that Cruce was on the second floor.

"Second floor, guys. Next set of stairs, and we're there." I spoke, my throat feeling tired, despite the fact that I really hadn't said much. I probably screamed a few times without realizing it.

"Nice, nice!" Replied Zatch, already hopping up to the midsection of the stairs. The door to the second floor was left ajar. Zack set me down gently, which was awfully polite of him. He gave the heavy door a good push with his shoulder, holding it open for the remainder of us to head through. Zatch and Zelda let me take the lead.

"Nick's not with us..." Zack looked back into the stairwell.

"He did good back there. 'S not like he's dead either, he'll be fine. They'll all be alright. Sure wish I knew where Vince was though." Zatch sighed, giving a glance to Zelda to make sure she was at least still with us again. "Okay, so where to, Topher?"

"He's right here." I stopped before a room with an empty tray outside of it. The light's around Cruce's room flickered occasionally. A sickly air loomed down this lifeless hallway. I wanted to conclude that it was just paranoia and misconception. We had all played a part in coming this far in such a short time. The consequences for failure finally had a kind of density or gravity, like getting a bad grade or making enough wrong moves on a driving test, except a bit more dramatic in this case. Hours before this, we had been letting the wind blow us into wherever it was we were bound to be. Tonight, it actually felt like I, for once, was going against the gale. And the gale was strong.

I entered the brightly lit room, life support devices inactive and noiseless. In fact, there were no machines. There were no beds, no curtains, no counters. It was an empty rectangular room with lights, walls, and tiles. There were no doors. The one behind me was not there. It was a blank wall. Zatch, Zelda, and Zack were not with me. I was imprisoned here, and I couldn't even make a sound. I couldn't cry for help, nor could I even close my eyes and will it all away. I couldn't think. I could see and hear, and that was the extent of it.

"We meet again, Topher." This voice was forcing itself into my ears. It was relaxed, as well as relaxing. It was not angry, nor was it sad, nor was it happy. There was no emotion, and that was the trait which brought me back to the phantom controlling Drew. It was him. He was standing across from me, his body much different from our last encounter. He looked like some kind of canine; white fur with a tail splitting at the tip, and a blue jewel in his head. His eyes were fiery, but there was no passion. He was smirking, eyes gently examining my being.

I did the same, finding that I wasn't the same. I was standing upright again, initially making me think I had been turned back into a human. I was wrong. I was still small. I was still a Pokémon. My ears were much larger, actually bearing a bit of weight. I felt like I had hair in the proper spot again. It was spiky and green, the same color of which the ends of my arms and legs were. There was a small red scarf in—not around—my neck. I felt heavier, but more capable of floating away, so to speak. This unique feeling was a blow to my equilibrium. Another transformation...

"Breathtaking?" He asked me. I did not respond. I did not have time to. "This was the form I had intended for you. But you're... different." The enigmatic creature started for me, pacing around me while speaking. "You don't realize it. How could you? Topher, you have a resistance to gamma, because it's already within you." He stopped in front of me, observing one of my paws. "The moment your cousin was poisoned with gamma, you stepped in, absorbing some of that poison." He lifted his head a tad, eyes watching mine. "You saved him. You didn't even realize it. You still don't. Cruce would be dead were it not for your control over gamma... Hm... If it was stronger, you would still be human. That's not the case." He shook his head before squinting at me. "I don't understand you humans. You do such odd things with power. Why waste your beautiful liquid starlight on a lost cause like Cruce? He will never return to you. You have trapped him in your imagination. He is alive, but you are making him suffer." The white canine scoffs, turning away. He returns to the spot he had been standing. "You are new to this... This infinite loop never repeats itself in the same way, and you... you are the difference. You and Cruce."

I walked forward, actually rather surprised at being allowed to do so. The creature didn't move. He let me approach him. Naturally, I was much shorter than he, making the fire in his eyes feel far more threatening as he was always looking down at me. I wanted to know more, because I was empty.

"Yes...? Topher, are you wondering if I could help you?" He gave me a genuine smile. "I can. But you have to help me. You have to let go. Let go of Cruce." His eyes close slowly as he exhales through his nose. "You will have to make the decision. Cruce is restraining you. Break free from him, and we can work together to reshape this world. We will make it better... That is, of course, assuming you find it within you to cease this fruitless effort of preserving your cousin... Think about this."

He left me with those words. Those words left me as an echo. And I was left infuriated in a way he wouldn't let me express.

His image of my world faded fast, the features of the hospital room becoming correct once again. Everything was in disorder outside, and people were being changed into unearthly creatures with powers. Mmhm, everything was correct...

I, too, was a shaymin again. I may have been a shaymin in his illusion. It didn't matter to me. His words didn't matter to me. How he wanted me to see the world didn't matter in the slightest. My concept of time was distorted due to the illusion, but the Hummings siblings had not said a thing, telling me that I may have only been standing still for a few seconds. Maybe they assumed I was upset to see Cruce like this. There was a problem with that: I couldn't even see him yet.

Everything was operating as it should be. Devices were active, doing what they were supposed to be doing. I didn't know what that was, but it was comforting to know that everything was here. The counters were here. The cabinets were here. The beds, the curtains, the door—everything was here. Most importantly, Cruce was here. Whatever had just happened to me... wouldn't have happened if he wasn't. He had to be.

"I'll help you up." Zack offered, wrapping his tail around me again and lifting. He turned around, raising his backside to the base of the bed and letting me touch down on it before retracting his tail.

"Thanks, Zack. I like your trick." I thanked him, honestly elated knowing how many applications his tail has. I turned my small body, instantly snickering at the sight of my cousin, undisturbed by any transformation. He was laying on his side, completely snoozing away as though nothing had ever been wrong with him. He hadn't even changed clothes, which, at the moment, was his casual attire: some hoodie and a pair of jeans—a lot like Nick. It occurred to me that there were a few devices around him, but none of the things were hooked up to him in any way. He was asleep. That was it. "He's okay." I let the three know, before crawling over Cruce and falling on the side he was facing. "He's totally sleeping like nothing's wrong."

And while that was cute, it was horrible. It seemed like I could just wake him up at any given moment. I wanted to give him a good nudge, or maybe plug his nose somehow, or make some kind of messed up noise in his ear. He just wouldn't wake up. I wanted to help him, and the only way to do that was to just let him go. He may have looked peaceful now, but he was stuck. He was lost, and there was no way out.

Cruce wouldn't want that.

I watched him snoozing away, hoping for his eyelids to lift slowly. I wanted him to see me, and most likely freak. I wanted it all to be okay. I wanted... to wake up from the nightmare.

"Max..." I whispered to him, his facial features profusely larger and clear. I saw the shine in his long bangs, a subtle scar above his eye from an incident when he was small, and the ever present smirk of confidence he had. It told me that everything was going to be alright, and it was coming from a young man whose father was killed in combat, whose sister died of cancer at the age of six, whose grandmother just passed away, who had to put up with a tranny that got him into so much trouble back in the day. Everything was going to be alright, said that guy who held me when I got the news that my parents' house was devastated during tornado season. Everything was going to be alright, said the guy who I shared a room with when I first moved to Autumnridge.

He and I had a good run of this world. We got the opportunity to see what things were like, and how they worked, and why they worked. If this was where the world was headed, then maybe it was best to let him sleep through it, because this shouldn't have worked. I wasn't ready to give my cousin up. I would never do that. That didn't work either. He was content with something, whatever it was. If he was trapped inside this sleep—inside my imagination—he was still seeing the sun and the moon and the stars and the trees. I knew a world. I lived in one.

Max was in my world, and he knew life. We all knew life. It wasn't something that... Laza could come to control for all of us. That did not—it just did not—work.

"Everything's going to be alright." I assured him, planting a kiss on his nose.

…

This was going to happen. Celebi ensured it. It was up to me to make it happen.

The ferocious struggle between my mind and body spared no quarter. With every step came a surge, a pulse, a flare. My vision was static, my hearing impaired, but there were no voices. I wasn't trying to read the room numbers anymore. I was following the path of most resistance, and I came to a slow halt when I realized that this agony was finite.

This pain and failure of my senses was like something I've felt before. It was transformation.

I dropped again, this time to my hands and knees, eyes half shut. The sensation was on par of that time in the woods I was forced to contort into myself, minus the tremendous difference in body size from Vince Maire to Celebi Maire. It was all in my head. Mostly. My arms were changing in tint, slowly becoming paler and paler, and that's all I could see. I crawled a few feet before giving it my all to fly again. The first attempt to take off failed, while the second did lift me. However, I was hunched over; an image of dead weight and exhaustion, simply letting this calamity within me do what it needed or wanted to do.

Drew's room was here, through this doorway. I only needed to keep myself afloat for a few seconds longer. Had I hit the ground now, there was no getting back up. It really wasn't all that different from cross-country in that I was moving while trying to catch my breath.

Otherwise, I was a damn gender-confused bug thing. Now wasn't the time to joke about things, but something told me Topher and I could really get along a lot better.

Ugh.

I was here, anyway. Drew's room. The screen with the brainwaves was still there, but it didn't seem like Drew himself was. Conviction evaporating, I floated to the bed, letting myself drop onto it. There was plenty of room to do so, telling me right away that something was wrong. A human took up more space than this. Despite Lazareon's words, I entered this room thinking I'd find a human being.

That huge, fluffy blue tail told me something else. I crawled forth, taking note of the pinkish hue of my arms. I didn't care about that, I wanted to get to my brother...

We were partners... We were like casual friends, finding a way to make anything seem stupid and funny. Work around the farm, for example. My father wanted us to earn our dinner every night, so he'd always find something to do in that infinite list of barnyard, farmland, or household chores. We always hoped we could do something that related to the animals, like cleaning up after them or feeding them. Those may have sucked, but at least we were with the horses, the pigs, the goats. They all had a kind of personality—a kind of color—and that was great. Drew would always make them talk and say the weirdest, sometimes most disgusting things. Yep, he was a little boy, and they did that from time to time.

That was in my life. That was my blood, and that felt good.

As much as we were pointed out the direction of our lives already, I'd like to think that the time I've spent with Drew's given me an edge on what really matters here. Friends and family, really. Sure, I could have been criticized for not trying again to convince my mother that I was her son.

Under these circumstances, Drew would have understood. Edge. Edge would have understood.

That silly little nickname my father gave him... Edge... It sounded good. It caught on. Edge.

My mother called him that. I called him Drew a lot more than Edge, but it kind of made sense to me why that was his family name. Edge.

...Nah... it didn't.

It was just cute and fun. A lot like Pokémon.

That big bushy tail was wrapped around a creature of size equal to my own. The fluffy thing was curled up, sleeping on his side with both paws under his head. His belly was white. There was a bit of white fur under his squirrely tail. His ears were large, a lot like a fox's. Between his ears were a few strands of blue hair to match his fur. His face was awfully catlike. I only wished I could see his eyes.

The strangest feature was the spherical bell around his neck. I crawled forward, moving his tail so that I may see the bell up close. Reaching for it, I could see my distorted reflection—my green eyes...

The bell chimed as I released it. I flinched, thinking it would wake my brother up. But if it could, couldn't anything? I could have tapped him on the head, or maybe shook him a little bit. Anyone could have done that. It wouldn't have awakened him.

But this did...

I heard him whimper. I saw his eyes open. Two large, golden orbs met my own emeralds.

"H-he's... hurting... me..." My brother spoke, or tried to, his raspy, weak voice much higher. I shushed him, patting his cheek. He sniffled, inching closer to me and burying his muzzle into my chest. He was crying. I wanted to cry with him. I may have been... I swung an arm over my brother, holding him tightly as I neared somnolence.

Slumber pulled me at the sound of Lazareon commanding Drew to ring his mysterious bell.

That song of perish...

It was the last thing I heard.

But it wasn't the last thing I felt.

To have my little brother in my arms one more time... that mattered. That's what I felt.

Because I wasn't dead.

I could still feel. Sacrifice felt nice. It was demanding, but rewarding. If I could, I'd do it again in the future. Hopefully, there was a future for me...

You know, maybe it'd be best if I didn't have to sacrifice at all, and everything could just be okay.

I woke my brother up. I left on a good note.

'Wonder where I'm headed.

-Azabell

* * *

><p><em>So that's all for the Endemic. We now know that it's a lot bigger than this. But what's happened to Al and Bryan? All of those other minor characters too? Endemic's not the story. Wave is. And the story's just getting started.<em>

_Confusing ending to a part of the series. Ah, I love doing that. Too bad it'll be some time before all of this makes a lot more sense. That's the downside of planning ahead. You think everyone can pick it up no problem, but it's not really that easy. But I guess that's the job of a writer. Make it understandable. I probably didn't do that here, but JUST YOU WAIT. D:  
><em>

_Anyway, thanks for the reviews, folks. You're all very kind, and I appreciate the words of wisdom, encouragement, happiness, pillaging, etc. I'll see you in Epidemic, or perhaps Elucidation and Liquid Starlight, whenever the hell I get around to those stories. Because they're kinda important.  
><em>

_So yeah, to be continued.  
><em>


	20. SPLASH: Chromatic Divide

**CAUTION! THE FOLLOWING MAY RUIN ENDEMIC'S ENDING FOR YOU! D:**

_**Wave: Endemic - Splash**_

_**CHROMATIC DIVIDE**_

_**Note: **WHAT? ENDEMIC IS BACK!? AaaaahahahahaHA! I'm such a liar!_

_Yep! Consider this like an add-on to Endemic's conclusion. It's an origin story, and since Epidemic is going into depth with a lot of the Autumnridge events, I thought to pull back and start a special little part of Endemic called Splash. No worries though. Epidemic's still going strong._

_I'm gonna say nothing more about Splash! It's up to the reader, if he or she dares, to dive right back into the story that started it all. Again, if you value the original ending of Wave: Endemic and don't want to corrupt it in any way, these chapters won't change anything, really. Otherwise, feel free to skip over this if you wish~!_

_**DISCLAIMER I DON'T OWN POKEMON WOOHOO PUNCTUATION**_

* * *

><p>It was too late to count the hours. They brushed by like paint strokes of loud color, a swarm of bugs and a meteor shower.<p>

At the time we invaded the hospital, we were compromised by special weapons and tactics forces. The Circle was gone, and I was nearly alone. The Hummings family was with me. They helped me reach Cruce. He was asleep, and I didn't think he was ever going to wake up. I had only myself to blame for this.

_It should've been me._

But then he would've thought the same thing. I failed to find reason in giving up on someone who has brought me more joy than the sun and the sky. Living without him felt nothing like living at all, but surviving.

While the armed police force collected their fill of infected civilians, we were crowded into a room, waiting for the door to go down, or for loud, fast footsteps to stampede through. I didn't move from Cruce. I was laying against him, eyes closed, wanting to feel his arm cradle me. My body was as tiny as I felt to the road ahead.

It seemed like hours passed before we heard any noise outside of the room. Intensive care hadn't been touched by the Autumnridge forces. We had thought that they were simply making trips. Logic crawled its way into the room, however. Why would they come back? There was nothing to gain from pulling the cat's tail. We were infected, and every step they took toward Autumnridge was a risk for the sickness to spread elsewhere. We knew nothing of their plans, but we had agreed that they wouldn't come back for all of us.

More hours, and then there was so much sleep in this room. I felt heavy once more, only counterbalanced by the relief of being with Cruce—the relief of being with the Hummings family: pichu, pikachu, raichu...

There was the buzzing of the lights and the breath of a loved one. Surely he was immune to my cold. That made sleeping with the dead so much better.

_I shouldn't think like this._

Two of them went underneath the bed. The largest one, Zack, stayed beside the door like a bouncer. The bravery had passed. Now that the fight was over, the fear came back. It was fascinating. Why did it work that way? I never felt too afraid when the fires were burning. But when the lights went out, I never found myself without a whimper or a quivering lip.

Oh.

Yes, that was right. Laza was still here. He was the fear. He was so quiet. We had been here for long now, and I'd heard nothing from him since the last encounter.

Then there was Vince. He was gone.

We'd assumed he was captured by the humans, which almost certainly meant that they had passed us by. We knew little about Vince's quest, despite how alike it may have looked. He came here to find Drew. But Drew was like Cruce. He was in the gray area. We prayed for those two brothers, because we knew very well how important Drew was, and how probable it could've been that the humans were waiting at his bedside. How horrible it would've been for Vince to lose the chance to spend last words on one of the most important people in his life.

The next time my eyes met the analog clock above the doorway, I noticed the short hand a centimeter beyond the four. I was still with Cruce. He lay motionless except for his breath. He knew to breathe, and every breath he took felt like a new flavor of heartbeat.

I wasn't sure why I had awakened. I thought I had heard a noise, but I was still scared, and that made everything a "noise". My small, dark eyes meandered from my cousin, back to the clock. There was something wrong with the clock. No. Not the clock. The space beneath the clock.

A foreign glow bled into our auburn lit room, the door ajar, with two bright blue paws around the ridge. The glow didn't emanate from the hallway alone, but those golden eyes to which the owner of the paws belonged. The air around this carrier of infection was familiar somehow. It was like Laza, but it felt real. I felt like I could touch him now. I pushed myself to my small feet, observing the blue creature. He was feline, with tall ears, whiskers ridged with dark blue, a tail fluffier than my body was large, and a golden, spherical bell around his neck, swirls of soil brown melting into the center. Zack was asleep, sitting against the wall, arms crossed.

I looked into his eyes, and when I did, he looked into mine. He saw something. He blinked a couple times, his eyelids darker than his fur. The door squealed as it slid forward, ajar, open. I saw one of the feline's ears flick. He was standing there, arms at his sides, speechless as I. Though, I felt comfortable like I had been with Laza. He was a welcome stranger, not only because he was infected, but because he was silent and beautiful.

"Hello?" I lashed through the quiet like a round through glass. My voice was louder than I had intended.

"I can still save you." He said, his voice milky. He stepped into the room. "I'm Edge. I want to help you." He repeated, his eyes beaming onto Cruce.

"Excuse me?" I stuttered, moving atop my cousin's chest and laying there, doing my best to protect him. I didn't see this Edge as a threat, but fear was prevalent where suspicion faltered.

"Laza." He whispered, his tail flicking behind him, then swerving like a blue blur as he spun around, reaching for the door and guiding it shut, leaning against it before looking back to me. "Laza's here. I can feel him."

"Please," I began. "If you can offer any help at all, we need it."

"Yes, yes." He nodded twice, approaching, watching Cruce still. "Is he yours?"

"Mine?" I questioned. "He's my cousin."

"No, no." He shook his head twice now. "He's not a Pokémon, but you're touching him. You're special like Laza, so that means this human is yours."

"I'm like Laza?" I queried, voice slowing down. My gaze fell to the floor in front of Edge. I remembered the moment Laza came to me in the dream and I looked different than this shaymin body. He said I was still a shaymin, but I was on two legs, with tall ears and green spiky hair. He said that I had gamma inside of me, and that I saved Cruce by taking some of the gamma in him. It meant nothing to me, because it was too far beyond me. These were giants who were speaking.

"You had gamma before Laza came to you. You beat him. There's another brain being made in your cousin and it's like yours. If I can get the other mind out, we can wake him up. We can beat Laza. Yes." He spoke, his pace picking up, growing more excited as he neared the end of his explanation. I rallied with him.

"What?" Was all I could say, however. Edge was a waterfall of information.

"What's your name?" He asked, folding his paws in front of his waist.

"I'm Topher."

"Pleasure, Topher." He bowed, holding the position for a few seconds before lifting his back up once again. He was smiling. "There is still hope with you, but we need a lot of time. We can't be here."

"Why is that? I want to be with Cruce."

"I can't pierce Cruce's mind. I need to talk to him through you, but the gamma is too strong for me here."

"I don't understand any of this. Anything you can do to help wake him up is fine, but we can't go outside. The humans will capture us."

"The humans? The humans." Edge repeated, looking at the ceiling. "Are they the ones Laza is fighting? They are the ones. No, you're right, they're mad, I think. But Laza is smart. He knows that your cousin is dangerous to him. He's here. He's watching like always."

My heart skipped a beat. Was Laza really that fear? Was he honestly watching Cruce and I?

And who were you, Edge? Where have you come from? I wanted to sink my trust into you, but I would be doing so because you were like Laza; you made me feel good. Why did you make me feel safe? Why did you know Laza?

Questions were obsolete now. He wanted to save Cruce. He wanted to stop the infection from spreading. While he had me at the former offer, I felt a new duty well up inside of me.

Laza gave me two choices: I was to join him, let go of Cruce, and change the world because I was like him, like Edge said that I was... The other option was the one he didn't offer me. I would find a way to save Cruce. I had a way to fight back now. The blue miracle before me, as fresh as his eyes were to mine, gave me a moment to consider a light that twinkled into view, one which I reached for with small arms, letting it pull me wherever it may trail off.

I gave Cruce a kiss on the cheek. His face was the same peachy hue I had seen upon entering the room. He was so large, like a giant.

There was a haste to leave, but the action was absent. The Hummings siblings were still asleep. Edge and I agreed to try and awaken them. I offered to pull Zack from his slumber, fearing he would've grown the most incredulous of Edge. As I approached the larger Pokémon, I shoved my nose into his tummy. I was limited, after all. He groaned, eyes opening halfway. The first thing he must've seen was Edge's tail swishing around like liquid fluff.

Within a few seconds, I saw two yellow forms emerge from beneath the bed. The smaller of the two, Zelda, refused to lift her head from her brother's side, sleepwalking. Zatch looked after her well, despite the blue distraction. The siblings didn't want to go. We had found safety. We knew we were in trouble. All bets to return home felt as off as they could ever be, like a light switch for order and chaos. It made me feel like a small child again, running from my authorities, seeking sanctuary in disgusting places which became so much more gorgeous knowing I was safe.

Edge briefly explained his presence to the three, who were swaying about, accepting his words so that they may soon sleep again even though we didn't. We left the room, and with it, Cruce. He just didn't want to budge. He was a heavy sleeper, after all. As heavy as sickly tears.

And so my adventures with the blue mystery began.

We left Cruce's room closed to the world, making our way to the emergency stairwell. It was then that Zatch decided to pull a blunt query from his quiver and sling it Edge's way.

"Where did you come from?" The pikachu fired, descending the steps with his sister by his side, hopping down each step as though it were a windowsill.

"I..." Edge hesitated. He came to a stop midway between one stair and another. He put his foot down with his answer. "Don't remember. I know I was with Laza. Someone saved me. She was pink."

"Pink?" Zack sounded, eyes tracking each of us momentarily. "No one here's pink."

"She's gone now." The blue feline said. "Laza sent her away. He's dangerous. He's going to destroy the world you know."

"Laza is really this strong?" I asked, taking the steps as slowly as the others would let me.

"He's like a deity. He's immortal. There's no way to kill him."

"So then what's the plan?" Zack asked, fighting back a yawn like it was a sneeze.

"I'm not sure, but I know we have to start by waking Cruce up. Laza can't touch him, and there's use for that. I just know it." Edge stressed. I saw his ears lay flat against his skull. "He's here with us. He follows me everywhere. He's like a shadow. No, so much worse."

"Calm down, kid, I don't think Laza's going to do anything to us. We're Pokémon already." Zack stepped in once more.

The urban descent was over. We were at the bottom of the building. With the raichu's help, the emergency door was heaved open, leading to the capacious waiting room, lights flickering above the front desk with computers and furniture tossed about like toys. The sight was short lived, as we had made our way to the open glass doors, greeted with the sight of a ravaged parking lot. It wasn't unlike the scene inside, with cars overturned and smashed, a few abandoned SWAT trucks, and abandoned equipment. I saw some scorch marks on the brighter pavement.

The parking lot's lights showed us everything, like we were part of a drive-in film, the world behind the screen meeting its audience. The sky was open to the stars. I could see navy blue brush strokes to the west, just above the outlines of the pitch black valley. It was so many miles away. That's where the infection could be already.

My heart tugged on me, implored me to return. I kept moving forward, passing through the destruction—the dismay—like I always knew how to do and always ended up doing. With Cruce.

"Where are we going?" Zatch asked. He was close to me now, instead of behind me.

"Hey, I have a place." I rang, somewhat confident, mostly uncertain. "Near our house is a park that leads right to the woods, and it has a small grotto where we can hide."

"We can't go through the woods?" Zelda groaned, her question transforming into a yawn.

"It's separate from that part of the woods." Zatch informed her. As he did so, I turned to the east. The treeline was here, a perfect ridge from parking lot to forest, man to nature. It was so close. It was like freedom. Like freedom. Not freedom.

"Near your house?" Zack started, turning to face me. He was walking backwards. It looked a bit silly with as hunched as he was, being a raichu and such, but he was growing adept at maneuvering around in his new body. "Your place is on Orion Avenue, yeh?"

"Yeh yeh." Zatch answered for me. He knew well enough.

"It's a few blocks from here." I informed, finally facing away from the eastern treeline.

A few blocks on new feet meant a number of grueling miles. We weren't alone. There were others in the night, human and infected. We had powers, I was aware. So did they. They had weapons to rival us. The only advantage we had was a mysterious boy with the knowledge of Laza, and a girl who knew Pokémon. It was shocking how she made no comment or question about Edge.

On the route to Orion, we were quiet under the haze of sleepy wishes. I closed my eyes while I walked. I saw faces. They were human and belonged to Nick, Emelina, and Patricia. My friends were gone. I was torn between anger and sorrow, flames and frozen water. Every net swung was like a strike on the head with stone. I wanted to scream at the next uniform-clad human I saw. Why? Why did you want to take them away? They did nothing to you.

_They only wanted to take them from us because they were afraid of being taken themselves._

And I was afraid, too. I was afraid of the fate of the Circle. They were plunged into the unknown, the backwards destiny of the infection. There were two unknowns, and we treated them both like death. You were infected. That was like death. You were taken by humans. That was also like death. Everything was death. Laza was death.

I followed the stars home. Every streetlight had bugs flocking around, fluttering. They looked disorganized, vying for the light, buzzing about. But the light was too hot to touch. And the next light. And the next. I looked ahead. There were spots with glowing scarlet light scattered around like fireflies. The more the sun climbed, the less apparent the lights became.

Enough time had gone by for the sky to take color again. We were prepared to run at any time. Today, I'd imagined people to leave their homes in evacuation. There was no large scale plan. It was all played by ear. Did you want to leave today? Where would you go? I hoped for their sake they had somewhere safe. I felt something gnawing, biting my feet and tugging the flower petals by my face. It was telling me that things were about to blow over like a hurricane. I didn't like the way the ground felt. It was too cold and dead.

We came to my home street. Orion Avenue was torn straight from the woodland, a schism of roads and houses tearing straight through the wilderness like a scar. The central lane divider was preserved, with oaks and willows that created a tunnel of leaves at the thickest parts. There was a canopy over the street. It felt so lovely to be back; it felt this way to be back and to see that there was nobody waiting here to seize us. I still didn't feel like I was home.

We were moving along the sidewalk going against the traffic. Incidentally, a car had passed by on the other side. Whoever it was, we had no time to worry about being noticed. The park was close, but my house was closer, and I'd intended to stop and attain the comforts that remained.

We arrived at the woodsy brown abode of mine. Both of the cars that my aunt and uncle owned weren't present in the driveway. The garage door was down. I'd thought it would open any second. My uncle had a habit of awakening early and fiddling in his workshop to soft electronica music. If both of the vehicles were in there, he wouldn't have had any room. It was very possible that they were both long gone. It was farfetched, however. I knew deep inside how much they adored Cruce and I, and I found no appropriate way to be grateful enough to them for taking me from stone-faced parents.

The rose bush in the front yard was becoming an issue as it was wont to do in early fall. The lawn was growing, but still in that sweet spot that made the outer décor of the house synergize with the overgrowth of Orion Avenue. I approached the door, my eyes reading out the faded welcome mat, before scanning the square pattern of the door up to the small peephole. I wondered how to knock. Without question, Zack came to my side, the tip of his tail touching the doorbell nearby. He smiled at me. I grinned in return.

There were seconds that I felt happy to be back, then those seconds became blank units of time where I wanted to hide because I thought that I was going to be grabbed from behind. I shuddered.

But then the doorknob made a sound. There was a low-pitched click, then a light rumbling noise. Just as Edge had pulled the door open a crack at the hospital, my uncle had done the very same. I saw his forehead poke around the lip of the door. He hadn't even put his glasses on yet. He was making big eyes, forcing his hairline back. That was a goofy face. It didn't look like he was scared. Oh, it was hard to tell with Uncle Gibson sometimes.

"Gibsy!" I squeaked, smirking widely. "Gibsy, it's me! Topher!"

"Baby Jesus, Topher, what's the matter with you, little'un?" He asked me, furrowing his eyebrows. I could see his jawline move, but I could barely even see his nose beyond the door.

"I got caught up." I whined, looking back. Zelda waved at me. I looked ahead again. "I'm infected."

"I noticed." He nodded once, with a gentle tilt of his head, despite it already being basically ninety degrees to one side. "Your aunt's not had sleep. Too much crying. So you'd better get inside."

"But I'm infected." I repeated, frowning.

"Get in here, you." Gibsy dismissed, opening the all the way. He practically vanished upon doing so. Maybe he was hiding behind something now. I didn't notice. The garage entrance was near the front door, so he could've hopped in there. "Your friends, too. I think it sucks outside? That's what the news says." He started again, his voice more distant. He was having to raise it in order for us to hear him.

"Oh my God, is he serious?" Zatch asked, monotone. He was aghast before he was concerned.

"C'mere." I smiled my widest, wide enough to make my cheeks uncomfortable with a face this small. "All of you. We're safe here. Everything's going to be alright."

I saw everyone inside: Zack, Zatch, Zelda, and Edge. As he passed me by, he opened his mouth as if to speak. It looked like he was going to thank me. I winked. I wasn't sure why. He blushed and hurried inside. I ran in after him. Zack and Zatch made a team effort to close the door behind us, the pikachu on the raichu's back. It was a much more effective attempt than they had done in their recent past.

"You guys all make yourselves at home! Topher, go see your aunt." I heard Gibsy's voice. The garage door was closed. He was totally in there.

"Yeah..." I sighed, my eyes shut lightly, taking in the scent of clean laundry and green apple candle wax. My senses told me I was home. I looked at Zatch, noting the white walls and picture frames behind him. He smirked. I ran off through the hardwood floor-coated hallway, stopping short of the master bedroom. It was wide open. The window was closed, and the room dark, flashing with the TV screen. The bed was messy. There were sheets and blankets on the floor. Most remained on the bed. "Auntie?"

"Ashley? I heard Gibs. You get your sick tush up here right this moment, young lady." She commanded. I trembled, wanting to cry. She wanted me back. She didn't care if I was ill. She wanted me back. I was frozen. "You there?"

"Yes, yeah, I am... I can't jump up." I uttered, my gaze watching the outline of the bed. The springs began to make noise, and I could see a sheet or two tossed out of the way. Then suddenly, the tired, young face of my aunt, messy with curly strands of black hair here and there. There were dark spots under her eyes. She looked like she was crying, like Gibsy said. I saw lines on her cheeks.

"Aww, look at'cha." She chirped. "Come here." She told me, both arms swinging forward, hanging over the edge of the bed. She had to move forward a few inches, but managed to reach me, her warm fingers wrapping underneath my white belly, thumbs on my back. It tickled. I giggled, legs dangling. She pulled me back, letting herself sit up before falling into her pillow, her body bouncing after the drop. She squeezed me and I felt my chest rumble like I was purring. I didn't know I could do that, but it felt so good, so I kept doing it, and she kept hugging me. She smelled of fragrant moisturizing lotion. I let my eyes close with my nose planted right into her chest.

"You're infected, Auntie." I sniffled. "I'm so sorry."

"It's okay. It's okay." She said, repeating the two words over and over in a whisper I haven't heard from her in so long. It was the same whisper that she blew into my ear when I came to Autumnridge. It conjured tears. "I don't care what happens to me. All the pain in the world can't compare to losing my kids."

I sobbed with her. I was the reason for her grief, but she took me in regardless.

_I won't let them take you away from me._

It was too late to count the hours. They darted by like drops of rain making their individual splashes in the river.


	21. SPLASH: Start Thought

_**Wave: Endemic - Splash**_

_**START THOUGHT**_

_**Note:** __I'm still going along with the add-on. This chapter's a bit of an emotional coaster primarily about character development that didn't get much time to roll out in early Endemic or Epidemic, especially in the case of Edge._

_**DISCLAIMER I DON'T OWN POKEMON WOOHOO PUNCTUATION**_

* * *

><p>…<p>

Startthought.

T he Y

is ALL AROUND me WATCHING

EVERY MOVE I MAKE

LIKE FLIES ON WALLS,

WALLS WITH EYES;

THE EYES ARE SHOT,

NEVER BLINKING,

FLICKING FROM LEFT

TO

RIGHT.

MY NAMES ARE Edge? and I am here to save the human world from LAZA. I was saved from HIS CLUTCHES by a girl named Celebi. She was so pretty and courteous, unlike HE THAT HAUNTS me, every night I sleep sleepless nights I am.

I took Topher by my side after I AWAKENED, his body full of GAMMA I could smell LAZA on him like a VENOM. He looked like No. 492 in the Land Forme. He had with him three companions and a breathing-dead human called Cruce who reeked of GAMMA. His poison wasn't LAZA's, but someone else's. He was so tainted that he could erase the other GAMMA from the world. But he was asleep. There had to be a way to wake him up. I couldn't let this world be torn to shreds by that MONSTER.

I met Topher in the healing-building in Fall-Cliff. No. Autumn Ridge, they called it—I didn't know anything about the human world other than that Laza was here and humans were too, but they were going to be POISONED. My vision was so unclear, because I just woke up after days of slumber, I think. There was a boy in my sleep sleeping in my place in my body with my mind, but he was gone now, and all traces left to the air left alone in the air where all traces were.

The No. 492 was like a girl, but I knew he was a boy. I saw it in his head, but not his face, because it was too gorgeous to read. His cousin was the human, but the human touched the meteorite. He was something between LAZA and another GAMMA. I wanted NOT TO CONSIDER THE POSSIBILITY of another one wandering around the world, poisoning the innocent people. My nose told me other stories, because the SCENT of HIM was so strong with another SCENT under his breath. There was SOMEONE ELSE, but that someone else was too little to me to be danger, even though I had a the discontent in my heart to feeling bad in my heart against him feeling wrong is in my heart.

I talked to the No. 492 and he was nice. I liked him. I wanted to trust him and his friends. His cousin was sleeping peacefully, and he had such devotion to him that I wouldn't ever once consider turning a cold shoulder onto him in turning away from him to be ignoring him in need. He earned my assistance. I wanted to save the world from LAZA. I wanted to hurt HIM for doing what he did to my EVERYTHING.

HE ATE us OVER and OVER and OVER again.

Quiet, you.

The more I recollected the events following my capture, the more my thoughts spiraled out of control, like a swarm of bees who lost their hive, now just aimlessly, arbitrarily, haphazardly angry. I was free to have my own opinion and make my own decisions, and I was ready to use everything this world gave me against that demon of a Nu-mon. I knew enough about that shell of a scientist to beat him at his own game of gamma. I'd been with him long enough to know everything there was to know about him. Some espeon. He was a shadow of a Nu. As was I.

I was Nu. 1—Nu-mon number one. I was the first and last of the successful chimeras. They called me Azabell. I had a bell that rang whenever I moved. The chime it made made sounds all around my body. It's toll upon my body was ubiquitous. It was in my brain and my spine, my ears and ears and nose and tail, etcetera. I was the bell. I couldn't remove it without removing my soul, but when I did take it off, being soulless only felt better, because my soul knew nothing other than poison and obsession.

That was for another time. I was on this planet Laza called Bedlam. I didn't want to call it that. Instead, there was another name. It was Earth. I called the planet Earth, and gave special attention to its most flamboyant inhabitants. The humans were so intellectually advanced that I was taken far aback enough to fall onto my own tail—figuratively speaking. I clapped my paws to them. They deserved whatever life this world had to offer and whatever they would then make of it. For a species to come so far in its evolution that it assumed total control of a planet was the pinnacle of life's mysteries to me. Perhaps there were greater tiers of mystery. I'd come to dwell on them another time, maybe.

WHAT I COULD NOT STOP DWELLING ON was the boy called Drew who was a human before me and his name STUNG my ears like hornets. Consonant consonant vowel consonant: Drew, "oooo" sound or "eeeew" sound, the D, the R, it made my heart bleed. HE with the love for the MONSTERS WE WERE gave LAZA birth and power and memory. WHY WERE WE Pocket Monsters?! We resided in the POCKET DIMENSIONS of a FALSE LIMBO. No? That wasn't it wasn't that wasn't it. That was what I was told. I was told lies lies lies. Drew was a lie he was Drew was a lie was Drew. He wasn't here, but I felt a burning memory of a running boy who called me his BROTHER in this world called BEDLAM or Earth. I was so many pieces of razor glass, cutting into where I SHOULDN'T HAVE BEEN.

I didn't belong in the world in which I was born, and for some reason, I was born twice, maybe thrice, but my memory was an empty room of ghosts. I couldn't say anything with certainty unless it had to do with Laza. If I tried to think beyond or below him, everything transformed into a faceless haze. Even the memories which I had only freshly made on this world became a task to recall when I tried. I wanted to unlock my memories because that's where the girl named Celebi lived. She saved me. I save her. If it was as delicate and simple as that, I wouldn't be here, on this world, with these humans.

Laza was the largest obstacle for both 'mon and mankind. His thirst for souls was as insatiable as my body was of many; but couldn't reach me. I was arcane, and he and I and every 'mon of the century knew that the arcane were prodigious in the face of gamma. Despite this, my arcane nature was not a commodity to me. Laza's power went well beyond the blessings of gamma. As an espeon, the monster was a psychological genius. I was one with him, yet I couldn't get into his head. Something told me it was as much a fortress as my own head was a prison.

Prison of two. ME and me. He and I. The bell and the nu. A prison of prisons of prisons. My ENTIRETY was CAPTIVITY was ENCROACHMENT was GAMMA. I-I-I can't...

I can't lose mySELF here. Someone is W-WATCHING ME? Is it a GAMMA? I feel like it's worse. Leave me alone. Let me help the world. They call themselves the Circle—let me help the Circle help me help everyone. Revenge is justice. HE is bound for the Paradox.

…

I will be going to the woodland with Topher and the three 'chus. Zatch, Zack, and Zelda have been with us this whole time. There are regards which must be met. Topher was with his family. They were crying, and they were about to lose their appearances as they were presently. As much as I had distaste for the wanton transformation, I had respect for those who were willing to sacrifice their humanity to remain at peace with their loved ones.

I had much to learn and little capacity left.

I am here to bring an end to Laza. I am here to bring an end to Laza. I am here to bring an end to Laza. I am here to bring an end to Laza. I am here to bring an end to Laza. I am here to bring an end to Laza. I am here to bring an end to Laza. Nothing more. Nothing less. Cruce must be awakened to achieve this.

Endthought.

…

Tonight, the wave rolled on, and my family was washed ashore. It only took sentimentality, a very human trait, to make us into that which was not human. To think it was that which Laza thrived on only worsened my perception of him. This alien being was responsible for the pain and suffering of so many already. He was the source of our fears, creating the unknown from which we are to shiver, shudder, sigh; we were swallowed into cosmic terrorism.

When Laza came to my aunt and uncle, he had no words for them. He had but a face, and that face was the host of a frown and eyes drowning in pity. When Edge raised his voice to his fiend, there was nothing but an exchange of glances. His debut was brief, as he walked through the wall, away from Gibsy and Auntie Janet. That was when they screamed together, bones and flesh mixing into a mass of Laza's dubbed mutation. Two tails for each, colors inverted between the two of them. They went together well—I'd go as far as saying that they had been spared mercy, despite the agony. It was even worse to watch than to experience, because their screams and their cracks were still felt all the same, their joints pulled out of place like nails in a wooden board, staples in frail leaves of paper, quivering away in a gust of polluted air.

When naught was said and all was done, the two lay there semi-conscious, semi-human, if that was to be warranted appropriate enough. I crawled to them, laying between their bodies. They were warm and soft, no larger than Zatch or Edge. Zelda seemed so conflicted as to tell me what they were, yet at the same time contain herself from upsetting me. The poor girl should've known how difficult it was for me to be angry at her.

In regards to my aunt and uncle, I was surprised to see that they were unlike me. I was tiny and akin to a hedgehog. They were of a different shape; it was something like a bipedal cat, yet not of the kind Edge was. In my fleeting confusion, the blue mystery stepped in to alleviate any such concern. He told us—that is, all four of us, while Gibsy and Auntie were still out—that they were known as "meowstics". As the name suggested, they were indeed feline, but I was still perturbed over the idea of not sharing a species with them. This was true for the Hummings family. If I was to be completely honest, I was looking forward to sporting a similar body to my own blood, figuratively speaking as it may have been for Gibsy. It was my final stocked hope as a Pokémon; I was to be a lonely creature after losing my human face. But then, we were all called Pokémon, weren't we?

We were all infected. I would have had less to worry about once I accepted that I brought the wave to them. Cruce, you were the last of us to shun Laza's blight. If that somnolent stasis was the only thing keeping you from the illness, then rest easy for now. Edge can get it all figured out for us.

He said he could. He had said he wanted to try anything. His eyes were impossible to see beyond, but his voice made me question nothing.

Gibsy and Auntie were torn apart by Cruce's incapacitation and my disappearance that they had worn themselves thinner than the fabric of their sheets. Cries brought us together, as they would lead us to sleep; we had that much to share.

As sirens wailed through the night, we brought ourselves to our own quarters. I took myself to my woefully quiet and empty bedroom. I knew that the two recent victims needed their space to accommodate to that which stole us. The Hummings siblings took the guest room. Edge wandered off. I wasn't sure whether or not to trust his judgment, but his credibility was so pure, for lack of a better word. There appeared to be nothing wrong with him, but my human conditioning told me that he was far from perfect on an echelon that my human self couldn't comprehend.

When I entered the shadow of my bedroom, my body smaller than the stuffed animals and collectible plushies that I'd amassed in two corners of the room, I sank. I stopped and stood in the doorway, defeated and pathetic. I shared this room with Cruce. As such, there were two halves. There was only one bed, which was a predicament for one of us. The thought alone pushed the corners of my lips up. I knew I was deprived of my cousin, but the tickling feeling in my chest was still there. I didn't care if anyone thought us incestuous simply because that was so far from reality. What I had for him wasn't so much desire as it was captivation. He was the outlet for all of my love; I had grown to put it all on him and nowhere else, save Auntie and Gibsy, of course, extent nominal.

I found it within me to walk forward. Two steps, four steps, six... The steps went faster with four feet. I was near the bed. I lifted my head to it.

Cruce was reluctant to accept the wholesomeness of my love. He gave me my limits, which I respected. Sometimes. It was our game, and he was stuck playing it with me. There were so many highlights to it already—so many times I made Cruce uncomfortable and skittish with my frisky attitude and my feminine charm. Of course, I knew where not to take these things. I'd no thought to rape poor guy. It was all in good fun, and with good times to be had. I never wanted it to end, as much as he may have wanted it to. Nah, he loved it as much as I did. We had such a beautiful bubble together, thrown out for the cold world to judge and for us to, honestly, not care. With the way I was—the kind of person I grew up to be—I was well beyond that phase.

I took myself to the closet and pushed it open with my nose. It was heavy. I felt it leave a small, temporary dent—a mark—in my face. I looked up, making out the shapes of all of the ornate apparel.

I was the local tranny and I was okay with that. I had a whole series of nicknames that the other members of the Circle threw at me. Al's was "Cruce's girlfriend", Bryan's was "Topher, Lord of Estrogen", Emelina's and Pat's was "The Mrs.", and Nick's was just "Princess". Sure, I got some grief for being who I was at Metedia High and even prior. I wasn't stupid enough to be unprepared for that, and I wasn't easy enough to change—maybe, outside of other dilemmas, that was what frustrated me most about Laza. Laza managed to change my body like nothing. I knew how male bodies worked, and I knew enough to safely say that my own was one in many; it wasn't easy getting to that point and for it to be taken away sucks. A lot. So yes, I clung to my femininity, because I didn't know the other side. What was "being masculine"? No one's been able to define it for me outside of, "You know, being manly" or, "Being less girly". Well, tough news: I wasn't going to change for anybody. I had nothing to hide. My clothes told the world that much. Alright, true, I dressed like a bit of a sleaze-ball, but I figure I got the butt and the thighs and so forth. Why not take them out for a stroll? Can many other guys do that? I think not! And sure, I was missing a "chest", but there wasn't a whole lot I could do about that. Well, not right now anyways. Er, especially now. Which led me to a more materialist side: All of these clothes and shoes weren't going to be doing much. Mm, after all the emotion starts to settle itself, all of the practical problems move in to cause their share of ruckus.

I left the closet open. I turned and faced the desk. There were two desks in the room. One was for the computer, while the other was for, well, my own leisure. I stared at the desk chair from my spot beside the closet. It was turned away from the messy wooden surface littered with papers and scraps and pens and pencils.

I was a storyteller. I made comic books, but of course I was much too inept to publish them. It was the sort of thing you had someone tell you that you were silly for not doing so. That someone was rightly Cruce. He and I spent hours editing my works 'till we lost sleep. The guy wasn't all brawn, after all. He had plenty of smarts in there; heck, there was enough to trump me at times. I read my kiddy stories to him and he nodded and smiled and told me what I could do to make it all better and what I was doing a good job at. The comics were my brainchild, ideally adorn with that "save the universe" vibe. I could spend days talking to Cruce about what I had planned for my characters and how I wanted them to interact. It would have been so cute to see how they would've interacted with us as the Circle. Most of them, anyway; and, really, that's all the Circle was about. We were all storytellers under paired accents. Nick and Pat had their novels, Emelina and Al had their blogs, and Bryan had a comic book as well, which he and his friend Kieran liked to mess around with. Initially, we were explorers, and henceforth young writers exploring our own minds, sharing ideas, living a lovely little life in a lovely little town called Autumnridge, where everyone knew each other and the weather was rarely bad.

Laza broke that apart. I wanted to hate him for it, but I had so little energy left to give my feelings. Furthermore, I didn't even want to know what he had done to Jovany. That gruesome snarl... Instead, I curled up next to my Pinkie Pie plushie and let all of the dismay out through a long sigh. That was it. That was the only thing I could do against you, Laza.

Wailing sirens and unsettling darkness kept me from slipping into that desired comatose. As I came closer to the deepness of slumber, I lamented at the bluing sky, only to have my name kick me from sleep.

"Topher?" He whispered. He sounded too young to be Zack; so, Zatch. The pikachu sounded again. "Aye."

"I'm awake." I mumbled, muffled through my own body. I hadn't realized how curled I was. I was comfortably nestled up into myself, balled up so that I appeared like none more than a hedge. Hm, I just found the pun. Dang it, Laza.

"Oh, my bad," Zatch stifled. "I couldn't get much sleep."

"Likewise," I yawned, now laying flat on my belly, attention fixed on the window. "Breakfast already?"

"Not quite, I don't think," He said, looking to the window with me. "Hey, uhm... listen," He began, his voice trembling, eyes pulled to the floor. I knew enough about that little group who tagged along with us at lunch to find the havoc tugging at Zatch's heart. I knew that heart a bit better than anyone may have thought. "...Tch, I'm not good at this emotional stuff."

"You don't have to be," I cooed. "It's me you're talking to. You know me, remember?"

"I do. You're right, I do know you," He swallowed. "Is it too late to say sorry again, or...?"

"Zatch, you don't need to say sorry. It doesn't even occur to me anymore. We've gotten past all that." I told him. The subject had instantly settled upon hallowed ground that he and I hadn't spoke of in ages, or so it felt. "You just need to learn to be more open, remember? You can't go around denying your feelings left, right, and center."

"Mmmf, I know. My feelings, yeah, those things. They sure went crazy when I sat by you during lunch Monday." He replied, moving beside me and plopping onto his behind, his stubby arms hanging in front of him, ears lowered.

"What do you mean?"

"...Gah, jeez, I already got away from the point," He pouted, rubbing his scarlet cheeks. My small jaw was ajar, eyes doing their best to scan the pikachu. He was full of regret. Why? What exactly was I reading here? "But I guess I'm kinda being eaten alive by both of these things."

"You're being unusually cryptic." I announced. "That's not a thing you do. What's the matter?"

"Alright, I'll get back to 'that'; right now, this is more important. It's about Vince." He outed. My heart skipped a beat, and then slowed. I was disappointed, but I knew I was in the wrong to be.

"Oh... I-I thought you... we..."

"No, no-no, Toph—that's the other 'thing'. Don't get me wrong, that's important too, but this... it's about... a-alright, I talked to Edge," He sniffed. Tears were being pushed away. I choked on my stammering dribble and let him speak. "I don't think I'm going to see Vince again."

"What?"

"Ever again, I mean, I..." He bit his lip and sniffed another time. "There was a reason we didn't see him at the hospital. Edge told me that he saw someone shaped like that, and then Laza..."

"Laza what? What happened to Vince?" I stood, watching the other attempt to relay, his eyes closed.

"I don't think he's with us anymore."

Again, my heart stopped. The words echoed. I replayed them in my head. I did anything I could to try and understand them, but I failed to connect. It didn't register. It only brought me back to Jovany. His face didn't change; it went away. It was there, then not there. It perished.

"H-how can you..." I stuttered.

"I don't... I have a feeling. It's a damned awful feeling." He choked, his words only just managing to escape his mouth. "Vince is really gone this time."

"That's... that's not..." I sniveled, well beyond disbelief. It seemed like only yesterday that I was mourning over the loss of Vince and Cruce all the same—and it practically was, give or take some hours. Tonight, I did it all over again and it only cut deeper. I hadn't the blood left to give to it, the saline solvent well and truly exhausted from this recent body.

I let Zatch sniffle and battle with that stranger of an emotion. He couldn't fight it. He had no idea how to. As the sky became bluer, so felt the room, even as I pressed my nose into his side and told him that everything was going to be okay. I wanted him to look at me, but with the foreign water in his eyes, all he could do was sit and weep. It wasn't awkward. Maybe it should have been. It wasn't. I knew this boy well enough to catch his tears. He would have never admitted that aloud, and I was forced to share that pain. That was why it just didn't work. Not open enough. It just didn't...

But he was here, showing. He was here, with me, sharing. He was being human.

"A-and so... yeah," He caught himself in his wake of release, his body tumbling back until falling onto his bolt-shaped tail. His arms were at either side, open to the ceiling. "I-I'm... sad."

"I'm sad too, Zatch. It's okay. It really is." I said.

"I don't like the way it feels."

"Me neither, but I'm still glad I can be sad with you."

"You're happy to be sad? With me? I don't really get it, but... okay." He yielded, sniffing once more. "Let's be happy being sad together."

"Yes." I whispered, and then we were quiet, the occasional sniffle breaking the solemn silence. It was our little moment. It felt like I'd been brought to a forbidden past. There was a moment where I thought of the places we tried to go and the things we tried to do together, how horribly strange his self-conscious personality had to handle it all. In losing tears, he has freed himself. My chest was warm, but it needed that which it was absent of. I climbed atop Zatch and perched sloppily, my belly against his. I had what I needed and wanted. I had his heartbeat against my own.

"Oh... you're up there now." He noted, lifting his head an inch or less. I pushed his head back, planting my nose against his.

"Yes I am." I mewled. "Is this okay with you?"

"That's fine. The other thing... was the 'thing', anyway."

"I'm sorry that I overlooked it."

"Huh?"

"The life of your friend is more important than our stupid drama."

"Well, of course. I can't agree more with that. But then both somehow tear me apart at the same time."

"I can understand Vince, but what about the other issue? Why is it hurting you like that?"

"Because I want you back." He gulped. His eyes didn't stray at all. He was peering right into me. I blushed, which I assumed he saw clean through fur as white as my own. Now, my heart pumped as though it was desperate, exsanguinated. My legs were stiff and warm.

"What did you say?" I quipped.

"I want you again," He stated, a proud reverberation ringing in my head. "And I'm not afraid to let the whole world know that."

"Zatch," I hummed, garnished with flatter, heart aflutter. "I-I never really could let it go between us, with you being my first. And now seems like a strange time, but still," I paused, shaking my head as if to cleanse any doubt Zatch may have assumed. "I want us again, too. This time, are you..."

"Ready? Yeah," He nodded, a jolly smile crossing his cute yellow face. "Let's give the world some babies."

"Dude!" I groaned, lowering my head, decorated with a rosy blush and a small laugh. "You couldn't have waited a little?"

"Not really, hah. Hey, right here." He guided, soothing, both of his paws lifting my cheeks. My eyes were back on his. Our hearts drummed together. First muzzles, then lips. For a moment, that was all it was. It wasn't much of a kiss. It was sanctity. All we needed was to breathe each other's breath again. It evolved, as Zatch started the two of us off again, pressing forward. I reciprocated, my tiny paws kneading into his chest and neck. It was different—fluffy, but that was okay, because I wanted it all the same.

It came to an end, and the world was spinning again. The taste was fresh on my tongue. It told me about Vince, and the sorrow which Zatch housed; however, I didn't want to believe it. Cruce, Vince, Jovany... We would be getting them all back. I couldn't afford to spill the faith I had in Edge. With my heart revitalized, I rested in anticipation for the coming day.

…

Startthought.

You're someone that I AM supposed to know?

Why are YOU in my head?

Get out of MY head.

It is NOT yours.

Go away.

Caden.

…

Endthought.


End file.
